Discreet
Description
In the provocative new feature from San Francisco-based filmmaker Travis Mathews (Interior. Leather Bar., 2013) a troubled drifter named Alex (Jonny Mars, A Teacher, 2013), travelling cross country in an old van, makes a pit stop in his hometown in rural Texas awash in right-wing talk radio. A quick visit with his estranged mother, who has recently gotten sober after several relapses, uncovers a startling revelation that forces Alex to confront demons of his past that he long thought dead and buried. As Alex struggles to reconcile with the unexpected news, he falls into a dangerous spiral of self-exploration that brings a collection of unusual unsuspecting people into his orbit, including a bored, local teenage boy; a YouTube spiritual guru (Atsuko Okatsuka, Littlerock, 2010); and a mysterious figure from his past. With Discreet, Matthews expertly takes the audience through a challenging and kaleidoscopic journey, including provocative and kinky online hook-ups, into the underbelly of small-town America to bear witness to its prevailing cycles of sexual and emotional need, its depravity and pain. Screens with Jay Rosenblatt’s Scared Very Scared (7 min), a meditation on Trump’s America. —Joe Bowman
Born in Ohio in 1975, San Francisco-based writer/director Travis Mathews transitioned from a Masters in Counseling Psychology to filmmaking with his documentary short, In Their Room: San Francisco (2009), the first in a series of films about gay male intimacy in the new millennium. He continued his exploration of sexuality into feature films with I Want Your Love (2012) and a collaboration with James Franco, Interior. Leather Bar. (2013), which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.
Trailer
//player.vimeo.com/video/207678612?autoplay=1Film Details
Language English
Year 2017
Premiere U.S.
Runtime 80
Country USA
Director Travis Mathews
Producer Don Swaynos, João Federici, Jonny Mars, Travis Mathews, Chris Ohlson, PJ Raval
Writer Travis Mathews
Editor Don Swaynos, Travis Mathews
Cinematographer Drew Xanthopoulos
Music Mark Degli Antoni
Cast Jonny Mars, Atsuko Okatsuka, Joy Cunningham