Ever since the iconic Groundhog Day (1993), the concept of a time-loop narrative has been popularized. So many films and TV shows adopted the trope, that it's now a genre in and of itself. It's rare that a time-loop story will involve a LGBTQ person. The only one that comes to mind is The Obituary of Tunde Johnson (2021), which was about a gay man obsessing over another who was ultimately not available emotionally. The Obituary of Tunde Johnson was also about a bigger issue that was more in-your-face. Written and directed by Nicholas Giuricich, this film has a bigger issue, but Giuricich's bigger issue is a mystery or it's not something that is front of mind. It's not even an issue that is known until the last few minutes of the film. Ostensibly, this feature is singularly a character study of a queer person obsessing over another who isn't emotionally available and not seeing the good thing right in front of them.
Theo Germaine (4400 and The Politician) stars as Aaron, a transgender man who works as an illustrator for either print or web design in Los Angeles. One Saturday, he wakes up and finds that he's been invited to a birthday party, but the invitation involves a scavenger hunt, which has him meet a stranger and get to know whoever it is, while following clues that lead to the party. Aaron becomes instantly attracted to this stranger and becomes obsessed with getting to know this person and being in a relationship, but this person remains emotionally unavailable and seems only interested in having sex. The problem is that every time Aaron has sex with this stranger, the day resets and Aaron has to relive the same Saturday over and over again.
Danell Leyva, the former Olympic gymnast, co-stars as Trevor, a man who is going to the same birthday party and is the aforementioned stranger that Aaron meets and with whom Aaron becomes obsessed. We learn superficial things about him, or things that might turn him on, but we learn nothing substantial. All that is learned is that Trevor is willing to have sex with Aaron almost right away but only seems interested in sex and not a further relationship. Every time the day resets, Aaron tries to get Trevor interested in a relationship or something further and deeper, but nothing works.
The film is less about why Trevor is this emotionally unavailable person or why he's only up for sex with Aaron but nothing else. It does provide an answer as to why Trevor is the way that he is. That answer comes in the last few minutes and only adds unneeded complication. Trevor's reason for not wanting to be in a relationship doesn't matter ultimately because Giuricich's narrative is more about Aaron's obsession and what that says about Aaron. In that regard, the film is interesting. Aaron's roommate is Dani, played by Vico Ortiz (The Sex Lives of College Girls and Our Flag Means Death), a nonbinary and gender-fluid person. Dani is there to help Aaron once Aaron realizes they're in a time-loop. The film could've done more to explicate Aaron and Dani's relationship, especially since there is somewhat of a pivot toward Aaron and Dani having a romance at the end. It wasn't clear if Dani was even available romantically.
What's frustrating is that unlike Groundhog Day, Aaron doesn't utilize the time-loop ability in a way that takes full advantage of that power. In that 1993 classic, Bill Murray's character of Phil Connors took full advantage to learn everything possible about Phil's love interest, as well as everyone else around him. Aaron doesn't do that. Aaron could have done more to learn about Trevor, meaning taking more opportunities to go outside of the original cycle. In the film, there's a cycle of how Aaron and Trevor meet that leads to them having sex within a hour or so of their initial encounter. They don't meet until late in the afternoon or early evening. This means that there are hours and hours of time before they meet that Aaron could utilize to investigate Trevor that he doesn't really do, not until the very end when the narrative wants finally to give an answer as to what's wrong or what's happening with Trevor. Aaron's obsession seems limited or un-creative as to the lengths he'll go. However, the very ending, meaning very last moment, lends to a possible sequel and given how engaging the film was, I would definitely check it out.
Not Rated but for age 18 and older.
Running Time: 1 hr. and 50 mins.
Available on VOD + DVD.