Plainclothes follows young cop Lucas (Tom Blyth) drifting through mid-90s Syracuse on an unsettling assignment, as bait in an ongoing sting operation designed to entrap and arrest gay men cruising in public bathrooms. Already disturbed by the job's requirements and morality, Lucas feels an instant connection with handsome older suspect Andrew (Russell Tovey) and finds his unsteady sense of self collapsing, amid pressure to deliver arrests and the disintegration of his loving relationship with fiancée Emily. Tensions come to a head during a suffocating New Year's Eve party with his troubled family, as Lucas struggles to reconcile duty and desire.

The debut feature by Carmen Emmi, Plainclothes draws heavily on the writer-director's own experiences growing up in Syracuse, achieving a refreshingly realistic 90s piece in part through deft location work and well-considered use of period-accurate Hi-8 camerawork. Mixing mediums may sound like a Vapourwave-y gimmick, but Emmi has a more interesting agenda: directly tying the format of home movies to police surveillance and looping back to the fragmented, non-linear memories of "coming out". Amidst the furtive paranoia of the don't-ask-don't-tell era, Blythe and Tovey thrum with chemistry and warmth, finding a bright centre in a dark time.