My Review of Thrive (2019)

 

Written And Directed by Jamie DiSpirito

Alex: "I'm glad you left your medication out."

Joe: "Yeah, me too."

It's officially Pride month so I thought it'd be appropriate if my first blog for the month was something gay themed and this short movie from a few years back was something I've been meaning to watch for a while.

Today seemed like the perfect day to do so and having finished it, it's a rather topical short film about a morning hook up with two strangers who end up bonding over something they both have in common. The thing being that both men are HIV positive.

The short movie takes place from the perspective of Joe (Taofique Folarin) who invited Alex (Ben Aldridge) over for sex and seemed eager to get rid of him when Alex suggested a coffee. However before Alex left the building, he confronted Joe about having HIV.

This wasn't a case for judgement but more empathy. Alex expressed interest in Joe telling him about being HIV positive before revealing that he was too, along with the fact that he had a long term boyfriend aware of his condition. 

What went from a simple hook up resulted in both Joe and Alex bonding over their experiences as HIV positive men that Joe agreed to that coffee date by the end of the movie, along with Alex devising an alternative way to revealing to someone about having HIV. I thought that scene in particular was quietly effective.

- Joe was an English student and Alex in digital marketing. The former has had HIV for a month while the latter for eleven years.

- I could be wrong but this short film might be have been one of the first gay roles that Ben Aldridge has played. Since then there's been The Long Call, Spoiler Alert and Knock At The Cabin.

- This movie really is short, clockingin at nearly 17 minutes long in one apartment.

- Chronology: I'm assuming 2019, given when it was released. It's available to watch on Mubi.

Thrive made for a solid short film with nice performances from both lead actors (as well as a nice but brief sex scene between Alex and Joe) while offering a somewhat different perspective to the topic at hand. It's worth a watch.

Rating: 8 out of 10