In today’s era of bold storytelling and overdue authenticity, The Pass (originally released in 2016) feels not only timely — it feels prophetic. Revisiting this tight, emotionally arresting drama in 2025 is a reminder that some stories only grow more resonant with age.

Directed with precision by Ben A. Williams and adapted from John Donnelly’s stage play, The Pass unpacks masculinity, identity, and repression with the force of a tackle and the intimacy of a whisper. Set across a ten-year span in the insular world of professional football, the film follows Jason (a career-best Russell Tovey) and Ade (Arinzé Kene) — two teammates whose careers are shaped by a single, private moment they never planned to share.

That moment? A kiss. Quiet. Tense. Unresolved. But the aftermath? It echoes through every layer of their lives.

In a post-Heartstopper world, where LGBTQ+ narratives are becoming more visible, The Pass stands apart by confronting the emotional cost of not living openly. It’s not a love story. It’s a silence story. And that silence — raw, unresolved, and deeply human — is where the film finds its devastating power.

Tovey delivers a haunting portrait of internalized shame. His Jason is equal parts charismatic and hollow, a man who runs faster from himself than from any defender on the pitch. Kene, by contrast, brings warmth and resilience to Ade, embodying the strength of self-acceptance with quiet gravity.

Visually minimal but emotionally loaded, the film traps its characters in rooms, hotel beds, locker rooms, always one conversation away from freedom — but never taking it. The result is an emotional standoff that becomes unbearable in the best way.