Being queer is not a resolve; it’s a form of completely normal existence that, even today, isn’t considered as one. College campuses are supposed to be somewhere you can be yourself, without the fear of being judged. However, even in 2025, it is challenging for some to come out of the closet and rebel against conformity. In Kabir McNeely’s “Fallaway,” the identity of two college-going students hangs in the balance as they try to navigate their sense of queerness within the constrictive, repressive, and traditionalist values of the community they so readily find themselves a part of.
The film stars Christian Puentes as Caden, a closeted gay man who has recently moved into the college campus dorm with an openly queer roommate. Navigating college life is no easy task, and since Caden is still pretty confused about his identity as a gay man, he finds himself being isolated from everyone else. That is, until an attractive fellow student invites him to an on-campus bible group that he agrees to be a part of, so that he finds some form of community that he can latch onto in need.
It’s there that he meets Giovanni (played by director Kabir McNeely himself). The two of them form an instant connection – although they don’t have the vocabulary or the strength to understand or accept it for what it is. However, it’s completely okay for the two of them to be this way – confused, floating, and just hanging out with each other. The mutual adoration is not welcome by their strict bible group, though. Before the two of them can explore it even to the next step, the group starts stepping into their private matters.
McNeely uses contradictions between the rebellion and conformity of being queer to explore just how hard it is for young people to find their identities – especially if they have been brought up in a household with regressive Christian values. McNeely doesn’t take potshots at religion, though. His gaze remains pretty assertive towards the fragility of modern masculinity. In some ways, his critique of traditional values is, in fact, diverted towards the Andrew Tate worshippers who think the manosphere is the only rightful place in the world where they need to exist.
In his debut feature, McNeely shows great promise both as an actor and as a filmmaker, despite the overall production being rough around the edges and far from perfect. You can feel the continuity discrepancies or rushed sound design that the lack of budget might have caused him. To add to that, I personally feel that short runtime (the film runs for a swift 51 minutes) actually does more harm than good. The rushed final act makes the bleakness of the overall feature feel forced, despite groundwork being laid down.
The characters could have done with a little polishing as well. Christian Puentes is a good actor, and his smile is unforgettable, but his character’s motifs remain a wee bit far away from the viewer to really be captivated by. While the narrative, which is based on McNeely’s conversation with a gay man who now considers himself straight after writing prayer journals, feels rightly done, setting it within the confines of a college campus that hosts a bible group that remains operative unchecked felt a little far-fetched to me.
That said, “Fallaway” is an occasionally affecting look at a queer experience stuck between rebellion and conformity. It’s a valiant effort from debutant director Kabir McNeely that promises greater things ahead for him.
