Sex is on everyone's mind from the onset of puberty, if not before, especially in these times. Young and middle aged adults are quite horrified about the thought that old people might yet be thinking about sex, or, worse, acting upon these thoughts.
In Tom in America, it is precisely the subject of sex being conducted by old people, or even thought about, that is sensitively tackled by Flavio Alves, but from a completely new perspective in this very serious short film. In fact, it only whets one's appetite for a longer, full- length treatment of the precise issues that can only be hinted at in this brave film, which includes the bravery of the lead actors, in one history- making scene.
At an age when many people believe that the physical act of sex, or even dreaming about it is obscene, Michael and Betty's marriage of 50 years is on the verge of destruction because of it.
Michael, sympathetically portrayed by Burt Young, sells found and reclaimed objects at a flea market stand. On item he finds in the drawer of a piece of furniture discarded on the sidewalk for garbage pick up sets in motion a chain of events which causes him to confront his sexuality and his wife to question their marriage. Long simmering issues rise to the surface.
Conversations and recriminations are deftly presented by Mr. Alves. Betty and Michael question not only each other but themselves as to their true identities and roles.
The performances of the two leading characters are heart-wrenching. They reveal the requirements of the times in which they came of age and the roles they had to play, whether or not they were willing players, consciously or sub-consciously.
With one minor exception, in a tightly-scripted plot Alves puts to good advantage the brief time available to him to explain the story by utilizing very quick scenes involving secondary characters. His firm control over the shooting of the scenes is evident in the conciseness of the forward movement of his action and in the other elements contributed much to the making of this film. My one slight quibble is what seems to be an extraneous detour into an exchange between Michael and a potential customer outfitted in a hideous pink beret over her indecisiveness about a contemplated purchase. I would have preferred that her assigned exposure had been reassigned to two gentlemen seeking to close out another transaction. They could have added a bit more humor to a very serious subject!
One leaves the theater after this film with best wishes for the major protagonists and hopes for a successful search for inner peace as they go on with their lives in a new age which, I fear, has come too late for their generation.
