Carmen Emmi’s debut feature, set in sleepy, chilly 1997 Syracuse, New York, follows Lucas (Tom Blyth), a closeted police officer. He participates in covert sting operations, luring and arresting men for indecent exposure in a mall’s restroom. However, Lucas falls hard for a potential target, Andrew (Russell Tovey), who is also closeted, and the two make fumbling attempts to meet privately. Meanwhile, Lucas mourns the recent death of his father as his relationship with his girlfriend, Emily (Amy Forsyth), grows distant. Interspersed throughout are scenes from a New Year’s party months later, thrown by Lucas’s mother, Marie (Maria Dizzia). 

Emmi’s film effectively captures the stifling feeling of being closeted within a working-class town, a homophobic, machismo-driven police force and family. The period is well-wrought too, especially through the clothing—puffy coats, barn jackets, and light denim jeans—and a few pop culture markers. The quirky pop song “How Bizarre” by OMC, whose lyrics describe a car being pulled over by an officer, plays over the sparsely attended, sad-looking mall food court where Lucas scouts men to entrap. 

The film also delves into Lucas’s tortured psyche, using buzzing, static, and feedback noises to accompany camcorder-shot flashbacks of him as a child in a football uniform. While these techniques initially wear thin, the film becomes stronger as it relies less on them. This shift appears purposeful; as Lucas slowly becomes more emboldened and in touch with his sexuality, he appears to wallow less in his bottled-up torment. 

In its gloomy, wintry climate, the cinematography employs a washed-out, gray palette. This is fittingly contrasted by bursts of bright color that appear only within the secretive, charged erotic trysts between Lucas and Andrew: the warm glow of a historic movie theater and the vibrant flowers of a greenhouse.

The natural and believable presences of the well-cast Forsyth and Dizzia anchor the film. Blyth, with his stony blue eyes, effectively conveys fear and inner turmoil by flitting about nervously under a black ballcap. Tovey plays Andrew with a more steady and confident air. Crucially, the chemistry and attraction between the two leads are palpable. 

Admittedly, the narrative choice of weaving in and out of the family New Year’s party was initially confusing, but the structure clicked more on a second viewing. The conclusion, though surprising, is thoroughly satisfying. 

Taking visual and storytelling risks with an empathetic eye for his characters, Emmi shows a lot of promise as a filmmaker. Though set in the pre-app, agonizing phone-waiting days of the past, the movie’s themes and struggles remain impactful and relevant.