EXCLUSIVE: Zane Phillips & John Brodsky put polyamory to the test in Something Still - Queerty

Open relationships and polyamory are becoming more common, but personal freedom does not guarantee they are the best fit. A short film, Something Still, follows Tom and Max as their relationship shifts from passionate beginnings to an open arrangement. Tom suggests bringing others into the bedroom, and a third partner enters their dynamic. As time together continues, the arrangement exposes loneliness, intimacy challenges, and the stories people tell themselves to preserve relationships. The film is grounded in the writer’s experience of opening a committed relationship, feeling initially excited and aligned, then realizing discomfort after prolonged separation. Writing about a potential breakup became a broader exploration of memory, intimacy, and loneliness.

"“One of the gifts of the queer experience is that we are granted the opportunity to build our relationships on our own terms, free from societal expectations or heteronormative 'rules',” Mahler shares with Queerty. “And yet many of us end up falling into the same toxic patterns that we've tried to break free from, simply because we feel we have to.”"

"He had been years into a committed relationship when they decided to open themselves up to others, which initially felt “exciting, liberating, and deeply aligned with where we were in our lives.” But after moving from NYC to LA on a “temporary bi-coastal basis” in pursuit of his career, the extended time apart-and alone-had him realizing he wasn't as comfortable with their arrangement as he'd convinced himself he was."

"To cope with all the overwhelming thoughts and emotions, he began to write out how he imagined their breakup might go, and eventually that process “evolved into a larger exploration of memory, intimacy, loneliness, and the stories we tell ourselves to preserve relationships.” That became the foundation of Something Still."

"The film tracks the trajectory of Tom (Brodsky) and Max's (Phillips) time together, from their passionate earlier days, to Tom's casual suggestion that they try bringing others into the bedroom, to the arrival of a cute third (Panagiotis Margetis) who winds up g"

Read at Queerty