A Floresta dos Sussurros (Portuguese) [Behind The Trees]

I am not sure how serious this film should be taken. It was an interesting idea likely in paper. Love will find you in most unexpected places and situations, but the way the treatment of the film is done, it came off to me as very amateurish, both from screenplay but also from acting pov. There were scenes that were unlikely supposed to excite the audience but somehow they just didn't work for me.

A macho man Paulo is in an unhappy marriage with his wife and usually cycles around. One day after a serious argument with her, he gets lost while cycling and ends up in a forest like area known as the "Forest of whispers" a secret place where men meet for sexual purposes. Initially things around him, he finds it awkward. But he ends up finding himself drawn to a young twink blonde Luigi. Unhappy in his marriage, Paulo begins to frequent the forest often, and eventually gives into passion for Luigi's body. They connect every weekend in the forest and over the course of next few weeks and 6 months, they both find themselves falling in love for each other.  Paulo finds his life drastically changing. Things will not be same again. Luigi, who was all about random sex finds himself thinking of Paulo and Paulo also finds out that his wife is now pregnant and decides to end their relationship. Luigi moves to US unable tuber this separation. Two years later they both reconnect when Paulo is now separated and happier being who he is and the return of his potential love bak in his life.

The whole premise was interesting but I found it somewhat cheesy and sex rom-com. For first 30 ish minutes we keep seeing just various people in the forest, their sexual encounters and pure flesh needs between Paulo and Luigi which soon gets boring. It's only when they both start to talk and get to know each other, proceedings become a little more interesting. But the whole sub plots of the wife cheating with the neighbor, who also happens to frequent the same forest for secret encounters was too much of a stretch. I did like how they showed Paulo and Luigi falling for each other and it grows over a period of time and is not random, but somehow something was missing. As audience I failed to connect with any character or felt empathy for them.  As I mentioned, the acting is strictly ok and the whole premise could easily either should be short film or someone needs to write a much better screenplay. IMO , this was a wannabe 'Stranger by the lake', which, it does not even come close to. (4/10)