With Pride in full swing and the LGBTQ+ community being rightfully celebrated by the people who matter, for those of us in the Western world it can be hard to imagine a time when the lives and loves of queer people were not widely socially accepted, let alone actively criminalised. However, scratch the surface of billionaire brands' rainbow profile pics and meaningless platitudes, and a depressing reality becomes abundantly clear. Between the homophobic murder of King of the Hill star Jonathan Joss in the early days of June and the ever-increasing attacks on trans existence by both the UK and US governments, the stink of bigotry and hatred still hangs heavy across even the most supposedly progressive of nations.
It is perhaps a worrying sign of the times that many of the most unapologetically gay films of the past couple of years – from Luca Guadagnino's Queer to Sam H. Freeman and Ng Choon Ping's Femme – focus on men either suppressing or denying their sexuality in the face of a world that won't accept them. Joining this prescient and pressing subsect of queer film this year is Carmen Emmi's Plainclothes, a film that serves as a painful but necessary reminder that we are never as far removed from an intolerant past as we like to believe.
As the title suggests, Plainclothes centres on Lucas (Tom Blyth), an undercover police officer working in 90s Syracuse, NY, tasked with apprehending and arresting gay men cruising in the bathrooms of a local strip mall. Aside from attempting to suppress his attraction to men and the guilt that comes from betraying members of his community, Lucas is also reeling from the recent death of his father and a breakup with his girlfriend Emily (Amy Forsyth), whom he still loves and cares for despite his conflicting sexuality. After an encounter with the confident and charming Andrew (Russell Tovey), Lucas finds himself torn between his head and his heart.
In his directorial debut, Carmen Emmi has proved himself as a filmmaker with an impressive, if sometimes overzealous, eye for visuals. He splices the slick sheen of digital photography with grainy, glitchy Hi8 segments that capitalise on the film's themes of voyeurism and vulnerability, reminding us that for many queer men of this era, the surveillance cameras of public spaces served as judgemental arbiters of fate. VHS home movie footage serves to put a distinctly personal spin on the story, placing Emmi's own sympathies for Lucas' restrictive and violent circumstances front and centre, while the meta nature of this experimentation of form is reflective of a reality experienced by many closeted queer folks, that being, watching an unrecognisable life unfold in front of you without being an active participant in it.
Plainclothes' main draw is, of course, its two magnetic lead performances, with Tovey bringing the grounded calm of a man more experienced with the scene and the achingly lonely, emotionally fractured Blythe always teetering on the edge of an anxiety attack, feeling just a few seconds away from snapping completely. When he finally does, it's a sight to behold. The supporting cast are doing equally impressive work, particularly Maria Dizzia as Lucas' grieving mother Marie and Gabe Fazio as the bigoted, brutish Uncle Paul.
Although billed as a thriller, Plainclothes is a softer and sadder experience than its logline might suggest. This is a story about unfinished stories, about self-acceptance in a world that comes with conditions for living free, a story that could've easily taken place in 2025 instead of 1997 – and that is something we should all be scared of.
Plainclothes had its UK Premiere at SXSW London
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