SLAP directed by Nick Rowland

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Slap, a BAFTA nominated short film directed by Nick Rowland is a film about a young teenage boxer who likes to dress up in drag and wear makeup behind closed doors. The film is a coming of age type film in which Conor, the boy in question is in conflict with his masculinity, hiding himself away from his girlfriend and his best friend, who are unaware of his tendency to dress up in his room. However, it all starts coming to light when he is dressing up in his room, but he hears his best friend  Tommy being beaten up by a gang of boys calling him 'queer', Connor has to decide whether to igore them and conceal his secret or go to the aid of his friend and reveal himself to a group of boys and his best friend. He makes the honourable decision and came to help Tommy and took him in.. His friend completely unaware that he likes to do this is taken aback and confused at the situation and Connor confides in him that it "makes him feel alright". He shows Tommy his makeup and how he does it. He then dresses up in his concealed feminine identity to his friends party where he is laughed at and they assume he is joking. He is later shown later in the bathroom at the party, upset, Tommy, trying to comfort him, ends up leaning in to kiss him to which Connor punches him and his girlfriend Lola, comes in demanding to know what's going on, Tommy then then tells her he often does this and Lola flips out and starts crying and shouting, Connor leaves humiliated and upset.




My opinion of this film is that it is a real life and common topic that is a big issues in communities across the world and this film helps educate people ad how it should be accepted instead of made fun of. It massively appealed to the audiences emotions as we feel sympathy for the vulnerable young man who is in clear conflict with his masculinity.




This could inspire us in our own films to choose a taboo topic in an attempt to bring to light a very real issue that a lot of young people face. We can gather that as it won multiple awards ad was BAFTA nominated, that it was very well received and we can learn a lot from it  such as the camerawork and editing as well as the choice of story.

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