I think the idea behind this movie was really interesting and different. It tells the story of a brutal attack on a gay man in Chile, which is a very serious subject, similar to the Matthew Shepard case in the US. However, it feels like the people who made the film weren't quite sure how to tell the story. The movie wanders around a lot, and many scenes are confusing because it's hard to tell what point the director is trying to make. The first part of the movie was actually quite good and I was excited to see where it went, but then it completely changes. It spends way too much time showing the dad being sad and frustrated, and the most annoying part is that the movie doesn't really have an ending or any answers. The story is about a teenager named Pablo who is around 17 or 18. He lives with his dad, Juan, who is a single father and always busy with work. Pablo loves to dance, hangs out with his best friend who is a lesbian, and is practicing for a drag show audition. When...
This is the second of the Arthur J. Bressan, Jr.'s film that has been restored. His cinema traditionally has been a look into an often forgotten corner of gay cinema: The erotic film that offers a full package of story, sex, and soul; as written in my review below.
Larry re-reads the letters he didn’t dare send to his imprisoned lover, remembering how sensual & beautiful life with Richard once was. Richard, behind bars, yearns for Larry and imagines him near. Now Richard is being released. Together again, will Larry and Richard find the love they once shared?
The reason Larry doesn't send the letters is for the fear that they could mark him for abuse inside the prison. Larry has been counseled to type his letters and sign a woman's name to them, but he doesn't want to do that; he prefers to pour out his honest feelings in his own voice, and save his letters as a homecoming present for his man. In between all this, of course we have more than plenty of sexual encounters like sensual picnics, fantasies about joining Richard in jail for simultaneous episodes of onanism in adjoining cells, and a swaggering daydream in which Richard approaches from a desert landscape before pleasuring himself. Maybe there is a much deeper meaning to these letter exchanges and how the two men are feeling but so many sex scenes, IMO, take away the essence of the storyline itself. The film eschews the crude fetishization that many porn films have of the prison and prisoner, Richard is fighting against the mundane with his memories of Larry being the only thing that carries him through the days. I can see why everyone keeps saying that these are important pieces of film making for anybody who wants to fill in the blind-spots of queer film and queer filmmakers who emerged during gay liberation; but these are just not for me. I am curious what others think. (3/10)

Comments