- [Director] Sound speed, camera speed.
- Hi, I'm Eli, and I realized something today.
It was just like any other day at the office,
Facebooking away, where I saw today marked
the ten year anniversary of my friendship
with my best friend Uri.
Through all those years there's one thing
that I never said to him.
I never said I love you.
But it made me realize what is the
current state of Latin men and emotion.
Why haven't I been open to say it
with the fear of feeling exposed,
with having a wall up.
Is this a bigger thing, or is this just me?
(phone ringing)
- [Uri] Yeah?
- So this is my self discovery of
Latin men saying I love you.
(modern, techie music)
Now I'm Mexican and I'm Puerto Rican.
And my Mexican side is very hands-off emotions.
The only time I heard I loved you
is if it was a special event or
(crickets chirping)
pretty much it, if it was a special event.
My Puerto Rican side is very loud,
it's very kisses on the cheek,
it's very all those things.
I would probably say I kissed my
dad more than I kissed my mom.
Which I know is backwards.
But with all the Latin men in my office with different
backgrounds, I'm curious how they feel about it.
- This is mad close yo.
- [Man In Plaid] I have nothing to lose or to prove
to anybody cause I'm already a gay dude.
- We're in like the hyphen of like femininity and
masculinity, so you know, I love you lives there.
- The way that I was raised was like,
you might not ever see this person again,
something could happen, like,
tell them how you feel then and there.
Like I love you, I see you, I appreciate you.
- I say I love you all the time.
- [Man] Yeah. - [Man] Yeah.
- I say I love you to you all the fuckin' time.
He never says I love you back.
- As a Latino man, I was always raised that
to show emotion is to show weakness.
And it sounds weird 'cause I'm like,
I, you know, you.
- There is more of a space to be like
thank you for forming this relationship with me,
I love you, and then versus, like,
straight dudes who are like, what up, bro?
- We don't go in for a hug, we do this thing.
- That's true, that's true, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
- We do that, and it's very much like,
all right, we bros, we in this world.
- That's like straight man choreography.
(laughing)
- They're like ... do it.
- I can't do it.
But also, too, I do think that,
like POCs sometimes we're taught
to be hyper masculine versions of what we assume men are.
- I can't be vulnerable around you.
I gotta be strong, I gotta be macho.
And I feel that has a lot to do with the fact
that I just was raised in a macho household.
- A lot of times, especially 'cause
I didn't grow up saying it a lot,
because in my family love was more like the implication.
- All right when I see my step-father now as a grown man,
I do kiss him now, even though he said
not to when I was a kid, because I was like I don't care,
because you raised me.
You're my father, so I'm gonna show you that love.
- It's complex, it's a complex issue.
- It's a very complex issue.
- [Eli] Right now we're going to turn to each other,
and say that I love you.
- You wanna go first?
- I feel like I love you, because I think that like,
I think I told you, too, like I love your energy,
and I love that like, I wish I was more chill like you.
'Cause you're like, yeah, whatever, that's cool.
(laughing)
And I'm like hi!
- I love you, man.
I told you this before, you're a good person.
Like, you know, you're one of the people that started,
like your passion for the Latino community is amazing.
- It's funny, I'm like doing like doing everything to like,
not like...
- I love you, Curly.
- Thank you.
- You're like everything I'm not.
(laughing)
- And you have a lot of people
around you that love you, bro.
When I go down to San Diego, my guys down there,
like, they all love you, you know what I mean?
So I just wanna let you know, like,
I love you too, you know?
- Thank you.
(laughing)
- Like I feel like we're compatible
in that sense that, like, what I lack in like,
people skills, and like being friendly and all that,
like, you make up for it,
so I feel like we balance each other out.
- Aahh.
- Maybe he don't love me.
(laughing)
- You're one of the best people that I know.
In my adult life I don't have too many people
in my friend circle.
There are people in my life that I've fully rejected
because there's a lot of pain and a lot of hurt.
Fuck, what the fuck.
I'm like shaking.
And you've been one of the people that's been like,
nah, I'm not gonna be rejected,
I'm gonna reach out to you and you're gonna be my homie.
So I love you, man.
I love you.
(laughing)
- The conversations I heard just shows
how much love is behind someone.
I forced my friends to do this.
It only makes sense that I do it too.
(phone ringing)
- [Uri] Yo.
- All right, you know, I'm just calling in
to just say that...
That I love you.
- [Uri] Really?
- Yeah.
I look back at my life and I see how vastly
different I've been at different points in my life,
and you've always been there.
I always knew I had you as a rock,
as a support system, as someone I could look up to,
and someone that could push me, and someone that I could...
- [Uri] Now you're gonna get me all teary eyed.
(laughing)
You're the Vegeta to my Goku.
I mean this is how it is.
I mean you're just, you know, you're just a go-getter, dude.
You know, you set your mind to something,
you do it, you get it.
I've always admired that of you.
And yeah, you know, I feel like
I've learned a lot about life just by being your friend.
So I think that's one thing that
I will always treasure no matter what.
- Wow, I didn't...
- [Uri] I don't wanna get too sappy.
(laughing)
- All right.
- [Uri] But no, I love you too,
and keep doing the damn thing, man, I got you.
- All right, man, all right brother.
Love you, bye.
- [Uri] Bye.
- I think ultimately if you put the time in to invest
in another human being, there's something special there.
And maybe it's not saying I love you.
But I think there's an authentic way to show that
appreciation, and it doesn't hurt to be a little more open.
I love you is a word, but it's also an action,
it's also a gift, it's also a process,
for a lot of people to receive,
and I think the ultimate thing
is just as long as they receive it.
Because life is short.
(rhythmic bass music)