Short Film: Family Descent (2024)

• Directed by Brodi-Jo Scalise
• Written by Brodi-Jo Scalise
• Stars Sean Depner, Praneet Akilla, Gabrielle Miller
• Run Time: 
• IMDB Link: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt26449121/

What Happens

John and Ari, a gay couple, arrive at John’s parent’s house. His father has recently died, and this is the first time John’s been home in a while– to hear the reading of the will. 

That night is a rare lunar eclipse, so it’s all red. His mom is in bed, so the two guys quickly get busy in their own bed. They’re really surprised when Mom shows up, and John goes downstairs to find her. She’s got the whole family there as a sort of surprise party. All the relatives comment on how big and good-looking John has gotten, “The girls must eat you up!” Then, Mom wants him to meet Evelyn, a single girl from their church. She’s painfully shy, and he’s… closeted gay; that’s not gonna happen. 

Mother talks about changing the family patriarchs, and John is obviously the new “father.” He’ll be put in charge of the family business and everything. 

… and then Ari comes downstairs. The family wasn’t expecting him. John explains that they… are roommates at college. Ari takes that as a snub, but John really wants that money. Ari threatens to leave in anger. 

John goes inside and comes out to the family. None of them are surprised except maybe Evelyn and her mother. Mother and the family take John into another room, where he learns a much bigger secret than the one he was hiding…

Commentary

Things spiral out of control very quickly. Sometimes love wins… and sometimes it doesn’t, but family is everything, right? 

This looks great and has all the quality of a regular feature film, it’s just a bit shorter than most. Many gay people go through the whole “Who will carry on the dynasty?” question, but this one really runs with the idea. There’s clearly a lot more to this story that we haven’t seen, and it leaves us wanting more…

Very nice!