Peter (J.D. Brookshire) and Luke (Tom Hausher) are a long-term couple wrestling with long-term couple issues in Haley Rice's 10-minute rom-com short This is Love? 

That's what it comes down to, really. Over the course of a breezy ten minutes, we're introduced to two men who've reached that familiar stage in a long-term relationship where you begin asking yourself "Is this really love?"

Maybe it is. Maybe it isn't. 

We're introduced to the couple as they prepare for the day's festivities - a gay wedding between mutual friends. We're introduced to their quirks, their strengths, their weaknesses, their common ground, and their widening gaps. People in relationships grow and simultaneously grow apart. At some point, you're faced with deciding "Is this what I really want?"

Rice handles This is Love? with a light touch, heart and humor colliding gently and both men having moments when we're drawn to them and drawn away from them. Brookshire's Peter is perhaps the most endearing, a bit of an unsettled chap yet with an abundance of heart and an inherent likability. Hausher's Luke is a bit more complex, just as unsettled as Peter but in different ways. It's apparent he may be feeling more than a little restless, perhaps a bit of a wandering eye getting the best of him. And yet, perhaps he has just reached that point in the relationship that we all reach - would life be better over there? Or over there? Or over there? Admit it. You've reached that place before. Temptation is a very real thing. 

Hausher's storytelling is filled with honest humor and yet also real poignancy. He seemingly knows we're going to reach conclusions, and he's not going to let us off the hook that easily. Both Brookshire and Hausher are sublime in bringing these men to life. 

Lensing by Kevin Losani is effective at giving us insights into the lives of these two men. Through his lens, we understand them with a warmth and tenderness that feels perfectly earned. While the production design isn't credited, it's also perfectly telling of who these men are separately and together. 

If there's one thing that Hausher's script really captures that I think is a bit rare in film, it's that space where we finally figure out who we are in a relationship and why we're actually in the relationship. It's not that our partner is perfect. They're not. We're not. It's that somehow we're better together and who we are is complemented by the presence of that other person. We love them, sure, but there's always that something exttra that makes us say "This is love." 

Haley Rice captures beautifully the humor, heart, and naturalness of it all with focus and insight and also thanks to her delightful leading duo and quite capable crew. This short film is perfect for the indie and LGBTQ fest circuit with its familiar themes and universal storytelling. 

Written by Richard Propes
The Independent Critic