In ‘Ace’, a short movie, the director and cast create a quietly charged portrait of longing, fear, and the maddening poetry of unspoken desire. Set against the microcosm of a tight-knit college friendship group, the story follows Ace (Lukas Gage), the reserved newcomer who finds himself drawn—reluctantly, helplessly—to Z (Michael Felix), a longstanding member whose own guardedness mirrors his own.
This is not a film that hurries. Instead, it lingers in the silences between words, in the glance that lasts just a beat too long, in the awkward laughter masking something deeper. Gage gives Ace a vulnerability that feels almost too real at times, while Felix balances the role of Z with a mix of warmth and quiet volatility. The supporting cast, including Giselle Bonilla, Jonathan Lipnicki, and Ariel D. King, anchors the story in a believable 
camaraderie, their interactions subtly revealing the way friendships can both protect and stifle.
The tension here is not born of melodrama but of stillness—of what isn’t said. As the attraction between Ace and Z simmers, their mutual hesitation becomes the real antagonist. Each moment they avoid acknowledging their truth only deepens the ache for what might be, and the audience is left caught in that same limbo, aching alongside them.
By the time the credits
roll,
Ace hasn’t so much resolved as it has gently folded itself into you. It’s a story about connection as much as it is about fear, and about the fragile, human hope that the person you can’t stop thinking about might just be thinking of you too.
Director: Jordan Gear
Writer: Jordan Gear
Links:
Love in Small Moments: Comparing Camping, Confession, and Comfort in ‘In the Tent’ and the YouTube Story
