Tribeca Shorts: ‘The Letter Men’ Provides Weighty History to a War-Torn Romance

A flirtatious glance sparks Andy Vallentine’s historical romance, The Letter Men, and we are immediately pulled in. Some of the most successful queer films of the last ten years have revolved around a fictional story or romance (Carol, Moonlight, Tangerine, etc.) but we are entering a new era of nonfiction storytelling and documentaries that highlight how queer people have used love to fuel their survival.

We are told at the beginning of Vallentine’s short that “During World War II, Gordon Bowsher wrote his sweetheart, Gilbert Bradley, over 200 love letters,” and Vallentine gives us a glimpse into how these two sustained their love even though they were miles apart. The connection between Garrett Clayton (as Bradley) and Matthew Postlethwaite (as Bowsher) is immediate, and one of the reasons why Vallentine’s 8-minute film is so impressive. Younger audience members might be unfamiliar with how men met each other before the invention of apps, but that is key to our history of finding one another.

Vallentine’s film is handsomely made and rich with hunger. It’s amazing how we only get a few glimpses of Clayton and Postlethwaite together, but they immediately become a pairing you root for. There is a tenderness and longing here that some major studios should take note of when making a feature length film featuring queer characters.

We are learning more and more about queer people before the Gay Rights Movement, and the story of Bowsher and Bradley is a welcome addition to the catalog of history. Pride isn’t always about where we are going but about where we’ve been.

The Letter Men plays one more in-person screening at the Tribeca Film Festival.