This film is silent because it is meant for the deaf to be able to fully understand it, while the hearing (or at least those who do not know ASL) to be left partly in the dark. In the course of this movie, two gay guys repeatedly cruise each other in northern Manhattan, then one starts the talk, and the other indicates that he is deaf. The hearing man is smitten, and starts communicating with exaggerated lip movements, then by text message, then learns sign language. They fall in love, they move in together. Then, jealousy and complications arise--non-ASL people will find it difficult to know exactly what the problem is. Finally, the two lovers run into each other on the subway and they feel the same heat that they felt when they first met.
This is a short film with a simple story, told entirely through visual imagery and music. It is like a great silent film of the 1920s, but without the intertitles. The cinematographer (who is also the director) makes great use of New York backdrops, especially vivid images from the underground. He also must focus on the signing, because one of the points of this film is that deaf people will be able to appreciate it just from reading hands and expressions. There's a great beauty to the signing, which non-ASL people can appreciate, even if they can't necessarily read the signs.
This is a short film with a simple story, told entirely through visual imagery and music. It is like a great silent film of the 1920s, but without the intertitles. The cinematographer (who is also the director) makes great use of New York backdrops, especially vivid images from the underground. He also must focus on the signing, because one of the points of this film is that deaf people will be able to appreciate it just from reading hands and expressions. There's a great beauty to the signing, which non-ASL people can appreciate, even if they can't necessarily read the signs.