Jerry Carlsson’s short film, “Coming Out,†may be in Swedish with English subtitles, but it speaks a universal language and communicates a message that millions of young men in the world can relate to, regardless of their native tongue.
The central character in the film, Joel, labors over how he can tell his parents that he is gay. The beauty of the film is everything is internal; Joel never speaks a word to them. Everything is in his head, like a Shakespearian soliloquy. As an audience, we don’t know if he’ll muster the courage to set himself free from the shackles both he and society have placed upon him. The whole point of the film is to wonder what his next step will be. Depending on what type of person you, the film could end in a variety of ways.
The cinematography in the film also plays a huge part in this emotional tale. With dark tones and a shallow depth of field, we can see the world the way Joel sees it- blurry. Everything is insignificant, including the faces of his parents, whom he is scared to look at. Everything in his life, everything in his mind, revolves around finally telling his parents what he feels inside his soul.
Until he’s able to tell them, until he’s about to “come out,†his world will remain this way. To see a harrowing situation taken so seriously, with so much care, in a difficult realm of short film, is an indication of Carlsson’s skill as a director.
As a result, he’s someone worth keeping an eye on.
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports.
Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders.
His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023.
Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief.
Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale.
Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.
Jerry Carlsson’s short film, “Coming Out,†may be in Swedish with English subtitles, but it speaks a universal language and communicates a message that millions of young men in the world can relate to, regardless of their native tongue.
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