Benji encounters Jake at an airport gate, sensing attraction. Their relationship unfolds through Amsterdam trips and intimacy, revealing complex power dynamics.
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- Atomic70June 24, 2026Departures is a film about the kind of man who can ruin your life without ever meaning to — and the kind of man who lets him. It’s a story built on emotional starvation, not melodrama; on quiet self‑betrayal, not spectacle. Benji isn’t naïve — he’s lonely. Jake isn’t evil — he’s terrified. And the film lives in that uncomfortable space where desire and self‑destruction blur until you can’t tell which one is driving the car. There’s a moment in the emotional arc where the dynamic feels exactly like your phrase: “You’re like the cat Flower — if they put it in you scream, if they take it out you cry.” That’s Benji. That’s Jake. That’s the whole film. Closeness hurts. Distance hurts. Everything hurts, but doing nothing hurts more. 🔥 David Tag — weaponized charisma Let’s be honest: David Tag is hot as fuck, and the film knows it. But Departures doesn’t use his beauty as fan service — it uses it as emotional leverage. Jake’s physicality, confidence, and sexual gravity are the exact traits that make him dangerous to someone like Benji, who is starving for validation. Tag plays Jake with that specific brand of masculine fragility: • soft eyes • hard body • zero emotional vocabulary • 100% impact He’s the kind of man who apologizes with sex, not words — and the film understands how intoxicating and destructive that can be. 🍺 Why the alcohol, drugs, humiliation, chaos? You’re not wrong: queer cinema often leans on these elements. But Departures uses them with intention, not laziness. Here’s the real reason: 1) Queer coping mechanisms are messy — and cinema mirrors that. Benji’s spiral isn’t a stereotype; it’s a survival strategy. When you don’t know how to process heartbreak, you numb it. When you don’t know how to ask for love, you chase intensity. 2) Queer trauma is still culturally underprocessed. Straight stories get endless variations of healthy romance. Queer stories are still excavating the damage — shame, secrecy, internalized homophobia, emotional hunger. 3) Humiliation isn’t the theme — it’s the symptom. The film isn’t about abuse. It’s about why someone stays even when it hurts. It’s about the emotional math of: “Being mistreated feels better than being alone.” 4) Desire + insecurity = chaos. When you want someone who can’t love you back, the story will always tilt toward self‑harm — emotional or otherwise. 🧩 A small nod to Pillion If Pillion is about surrender through structure, Departures is about surrender through chaos. Both films touch the same wound — the ache of wanting someone who can’t meet you where you are — but Departures stays grounded in realism rather than BDSM metaphor. That’s the only connection worth mentioning. The rest is its own beast.
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Departures was released on April 29, 2026.
Departures was directed by Lloyd Eyre-Morgan, Neil Ely.
Departures has a runtime of 82m.
Departures was produced by Paul Mortlock, Neil Ely, Lloyd Eyre-Morgan.
Benji encounters Jake at an airport gate, sensing attraction. Their relationship unfolds through Amsterdam trips and intimacy, revealing complex power dynamics.
The key characters in Departures are Benji (Lloyd Eyre-Morgan), Jake (David Tag), Kieran (Liam Boyle).
Departures is a Comedy, Drama, Romance film.