IN FROM THE SIDE

MATT CARTER | UNITED KINGDOM  | 2022  | 134 MIN  | ENGLISH

In collaboration with

Nimbly eliding genres – a sports nailbiter, a weepy, a feel-good Christmas movie, a (very) sexy rom-com – In from the Side follows the star player of a rugby “B Squad” whose steamy affair with a cocky “A-Squad-A-hole” endangers a delicate balance of relationships on and off the field.

Mark (Alexander Lincoln) is the glue holding together his ragtag team of all-gay B-listers as they run drills and ogle refs. That is, until A-lister Warren (Alexander King) secretly wrests away his affections. Though both are in long-term relationships, they are unable to keep their eyes, hands, or lips off each other, and Mark is forced by circumstances – and his wise mother – to define his own personal morality. Should one worry more about the hurt you’ll cause or the joy you can grab? Writer-director-editor Matt Carter – who even performs original soundtrack songs – ratchets up the tension, where even a phone buzz can cause a heart to stop, and lovingly crafts the shots with an eye for visual metaphor: the rising sun unveiling a frosted mountaintop, clouds streaming like troubled thoughts. Emotive backdrops for a mudslinging, heart-stirring homage to sportsmanship in all its permutations.

screening at Cinéma Impérial only | NOVEMBER 20TH 7PM