Movie Review - The Blonde One

If you are familiar with Argentina's queer filmmaker, Marco Berger, then this film will not be a surprise in what it plays out and how the film plays it out. Berger's debut feature was Plan B (2010), which was about two seeming straight men realizing they have same-sex attraction. This establishes the archetype that Berger will utilize over and over, which is the majority of his characters don't begin as openly gay and often don't become openly gay. His characters are always repressed or closeted, having to deny their homosexuality or hide it from the world, only to express it in private or through subtle, homoerotic gazes. If Berger's films are good for anything, there are good for homoerotic gazes. His films in almost every frame are littered with young, good-looking men in various states of undress, typically men are shirtless, but he doesn't refrain from full-frontal nudity. Normally, he'll confine his characters to one location and stare at them as they lounge in their underwear or take showers. Berger will find any excuse to linger his camera on their body parts, really showing his love of the male form.

His last feature, Taekwondo (2017) was a perfect example of his homoerotic gaze, stretched to feature-length. There was no plot in the film. It simply was a two-hour excuse to stare at a bunch of straight guys, leering at their bodies. While the film might have exposed some homophobia in sport or among athletes, the point seemed like it was more about leering at handsome, young men. The prime specimen of what Berger does and that provides a bit of a template for what we get here is Sexual Tension: Volatile (2013), a collection of short films by Berger that are all about two men in a room or place, desiring and lusting after each other but not acting on it, coming close but ultimately delaying gratification. That template is something that Berger would repeat a couple of times. He repeated it in his film Hawaii (2013) and he would repeat it here. What sets this film apart from the others is that Berger does take a step forward with his characters and has them cut that tension, acting finally on their lustful desires. Taekwondo does end with a kiss, but it doesn't satisfy the two-hour long tease that was that film.

Gaston Re (Taekwondo) stars as Gabriel aka Gabo, a young man, probably in his early to mid 30's. He lives in Buenos Aires. He just moved there for a new job that he has at some kind of warehouse that appears to do woodworking. He needs an apartment and is offered a room at his co-worker's place. He's a very quiet and reserved guy. He doesn't speak much. He hardly speaks at all. He mainly reads in his bedroom. He waters plants. He hangs out with his roommates who drink beer and watch football, as well as talk about women. However, Gabo doesn't seem too interested or engaged with them on that level. He seems like an odd man out in that regard. What also makes him feel like an odd man out is that Gabo is the only one around with blonde hair. Because of which, his co-worker refers to him as "un rubio," which is Spanish for someone of that color.

One day, while Gabo and his other roommates are sitting on the couch, his co-worker reaches over him, putting his hand on Gabo's lap. It seems like an obvious move for the co-worker to touch Gabo's crotch and feel Gabo's penis. The fact that neither reacts to acknowledge what some might deem as inappropriate touching, especially if it were accidental, is perhaps a clue of how the two feel about that kind of touching. After that, the co-worker appears to do things that are intentionally trying to get a homoerotic gaze from Gabo.

Alfonso Barón co-stars as Juan, the aforementioned co-worker who invites Gabo to live with him in his apartment. Juan has a girlfriend with whom he frequently has sex. Yet, he's the one who touches Gabo's crotch in what seems like an obvious test of Gabo's sexuality. It isn't a definitive test, so Juan does other things to provoke a response from Gabo. Namely, he walks around naked in front of Gabo, almost daring him to gaze homoerotically. He's constantly asking Gabo out to do things. He won't call them dates, but that's what they seemingly are. Juan clearly has same-sex attraction, but he won't admit to it, not openly. He's closeted and it's never convincing as to why.

Argentina is one of the most gay-friendly countries in the world. It was the first Latin American country to legalize same-sex marriage. It has protections for gay rights that the United States doesn't. It's not to say that there is no homophobia in the country, but the environment that would make Juan be so homophobic or so scared to come out of the closet and either be gay, bisexual or fluid is not convincing. Unfortunately, because Berger's film doesn't have a lot of dialogue between the two, mainly because Gabo doesn't talk much or not at all, we only get a vague story about Juan's father not liking his art, but to traffic in another story about closeted men, Berger needed something better or more. Otherwise, the behaviors of these men aren't that realistic.

Gabo does provide a backstory that explains his shyness and his being in the closet that's better than the one that Juan gives. It's revealed that Gabo has a daughter from a deceased wife. It's a better excuse for him to be closeted, but it still feels somewhat contrived in order for Berger to perpetuate Berger's sexual tension motif where it's all about furtive glances for nearly a hour of this movie. To Berger's credit, the couple here goes further than any same-sex male couple in his previous films in terms of what's depicted on screen, meaning they do fornicate and multiple times. It's also not Berger's first hopeful ending, but it's one that's still mired in frustration because at one point I thought the film was occurring in the past. There seemed to be no smart phones available, but there are. Yet, we're to believe these two men have never heard of Grindr. Berger has no interest in depicting gay culture beyond the closeted, cisgendered, athletic, super masculine men that are his only focus.

Not Rated but contains intense sexuality and full-frontal nudity.
Running Time: 1 hr. and 51 mins.

Available on DVD and VOD, including Dekkoo.