Marco Berger has come out with another movie that’s really beautiful and sexy, but it’s definitely not like the ones he usually makes where guys are just full of sexual tension. This one is filmed in black-and-white and looks amazing. The director found a really weird way to show how humans connect and how sexuality works by using a "man as a dog" idea. It’s a pretty strange but interesting movie that makes you think. The story takes place in a world that’s parallel to ours, where two straight couples are on vacation on an island. You see two guys on a boat calling out to someone, and then this naked, lonely, and really good-looking guy shows up. In this dreamy kind of world, the group calls him a "man," but he basically acts like a pet dog. In this setup, the word "men" refers to naked male humans that people own as pets, just like we own dogs. People are scared of stray men just like they're scared of stray dogs. There are also "women" who ...
Unfolding almost entirely within the confines of the seedy, gay-friendly Brazilian bar called Inferninho, we meet Jarbas, a footloose sailor who arrives at the bar. The easygoing dude immediately catches the eye of world-weary transvestite proprietor Deusimar, who offers him a room for rent. Of course, they dance and love sparks from the very first night itself. Jarbas is welcomes by other members of this seedy bar including a man always dressed as rabbit, bearded Wonder Woman and a chubby Wolverine and such other characters. A nefarious developer approaches the bar to buy it for property development giving a very high price which Jarbas refuses. Apparently he has become a couple with Desusimar, but soon his past catches up. He owed some money to other sailors who come looking for him to eventually one night he runs. Deusimar cannot bear to be alone after having found love in the sailor, decides to sell the bar and commit suicide leaving all her money to the patrons who worked in the bar. After a dreamlike sequence the films ends in a reverse scenario where Jarbas is working behind the bar, and enters Deusimar looking for a drink.
These kind of films are definitely not my cuppa tea. The campy-grimy aesthetic and artificial theatricality is just not scene. Somehow reminded me of a famous film "Querelle' which is big in critics world, but I never liked that film too. The whole idea of the misfit people dressed variously as Mickey Mouse, Pocahontas, Wonder Woman, the Silver Surfer and Darth Vadar finding safe harbour, is something I do not enjoy. I was watching this film strictly from a narrative point of view and to an extent the experimental nature of it was fine, but it kept going into this extreme theatrics and art zone, I just could not keep my interest alive. I am sure, there will be critics who would be going gaga over this new style of gritty film making and taking on a subject of queer misfits, but this just did not work for me. (2/10)
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