Steam (I) (2009) User Reviews

You think you know...

[rgcustomer · 7/10 · 21 July 2010]

At several points during this short, you probably think you know what is happening. But you probably don't until near the end.

I found it to be captivating from beginning to end, with good camera work, acting, and sound. The story is slowly revealed, piece by piece, some expected, some not.

However, I think the writer must not like the characters very much, given the ending that both are stuck with. While it is clever, this is what limited me from giving it a higher score. There doesn't appear to be a lot of hope in this short.

Also, is it just me, or does Guy 1 (Julien Zeitouni) look like Tobey Maguire? I'm glad he got out from behind the camera. Yum.

Too hot or just right?

[adamjohns-42575 · 6/10 · 17 June 2021]

Incredibly horny right from the off, but I had hoped for a bit more nudity from a film about two gays in a steam room.

I personally have never liked them, they've always been too claustrophobic for me, so the idea of being trapped in one just freaks me out.

I have to say that this film is very clever and delicately done in a time when it may have been considered quite controversial. The ending is genius.

Shouldn't work but does

[preppy-3 · 8/10 · 13 May 2010]

Short about two men (Julien Zeitouni and Scott Hislop) alone in a steam room. They have oral sex and then one gets up to leave. All of the sudden he can;t find a door. They both search and NEITHER one can find one. They can't figure out what's gone wrong and start to accuse each other. However one of them slowly realizes who they are and why they are there.

It starts off as a gay sex short and ends up like a Twilight Zone episode! What the sex has to do with anything I'm not sure but it's tastefully done. The final revelation should have been obvious but I didn't see it coming. The acting by Hislop and Zeitouni is good and is helped by an interesting soundtrack (you'll understand what I mean if you see the movie). Worth catching.

darker

[Kirpianuscus · 5 February 2017]

right job. the photography, the performances, the atmosphere, the expectation of the viewer, the inspired use of short film as tool for a powerful message. a parable more than an example for a precise genre. one of the story who impose to rediscover the near reality. maybe, this is the best virtue of Steam. to use in smart manner the appearances. to give different perspectives about a simple way. to explore the incertitude and provoke the feeling to know what is happened. to propose a provocative hypothesis using as start point a small, dirty, ordinary event. a duel between two guys. and the revelation who change everything. more for viewer than for the characters. but this is only a detail.