VOD Review - These Peculiar Days

It feels like a modern, Mexican version of The Big Chill (1983). The idea of a group of friends gathering for a weekend getaway at a vacation house or summer house was popularized in that 1983 film. The friends usually gather to hangout, do drugs and have sex, typically with various partners. The Big Chill didn't invent this idea. It's an idea that's often the premise for a lot of horror flicks. In horror though, people come to a cabin in the woods where they're cut off and are slaughtered one by one. Yet, The Big Chill popularized the idea of the whole piece being just about the drama of interpersonal relationships, who wants to have sex with whom. There have been gay versions like Maurice Jamal's The Ski Trip (2006) and Rob Williams' 3-Day Weekend (2008). There have also been mixed orientation versions like Chris Lowell's Beside Still Waters (2014), William Sullivan's That's Not Us (2016) and Vicente Alves do Ó's Sunburn (2019).

This film, written and directed by Chucho E. Quintero, further echoes its similarities to The Big Chill because the group of friends consist of eight people, just like in The Big Chill. This film also has a dramatic turn from the death of a mutual friend of the eight people. The difference in that regard is that the death in The Big Chill happens at the start of the film and is in effect the inciting incident. Here, the death happens toward the end, or the end of the second act. The death doesn't set the table for exploration of certain themes, as The Big Chill does. The death here is more of a plot point to help round a corner as it were. Otherwise, this film is just an excuse to be about Millennials or people under the age of 30 expressing their sexuality without limits or labels. One could point to this film as a celebration of either bisexuality or sexual fluidity, representing both identities without shame, fear or prejudice.

Gerardo Del Razo was featured in Quintero's previous feature, Velociraptor (2015), but he was only briefly featured. Here, Del Razo stars as Román Trejo, a very young guy. He looks like he could be a teenager. He's probably around 21. It wouldn't be surprising if he were 17 or 18. It seems as though most of the people around him are his classmates or possibly friends that he grew up along side, in or near Veracruz, Mexico. He likes to skateboard. All of his free time is spent skateboarding and he's somewhat good at it or at least he wants to be.

Román is invited to a get-together with friends at a cabin in the woods for the weekend. There's a little bit of tension because right before this weekend, it was revealed that Román cheated on his girlfriend with a guy. That reveal happened rather publicly in front of their friends. What's crazy is that even after that public reveal, Román is still invited with people knowing that his girlfriend was also going to be there. The tension is increased because the guy with whom Román cheated has also been invited to this get-together for the weekend. The thrust of the film becomes which of the two Román will choose or which of the two will choose him. At one point, he imagines a threesome, which is a possibility that he never verbalizes or broaches with the two potential partners. It's a wonder why the reticence in the character or if that's a reticence in the filmmaker.

Sofía Sylwin co-stars as Isabel, or Isa. She's the girlfriend of Román. Every once and a while, she'll speak in a language that isn't Spanish. That other language seems to be Polish. She might have been born and raised in Mexico, but she possibly has a Polish parent or Polish ancestors. It explains why Román's nickname for her is "Polski," which is the word for people from Poland. She also seems to have an interest in playing the piano. She finds an electronic keyboard at the cabin and she can play a tune on it. She's upset to learn Román cheated on her. Yet, it's inconsequential that he cheated with a guy. We can easily infer this because Isabel has sex with her female friend who accompanies her on this trip.

Her relationship with her female friend doesn't come across as anything more than a "friends with benefits" situation. There doesn't appear to be anything romantic there. Sex between them just seems to be a casual, comforting tool, which seems to be the mindset of a few of the friends here. Not all do, and there does seem to be a line drawn at times. No one though ever has a conversation about where that line is. There was a French porn film by French porn actress, Ovidie, called Sexual Freedom (2013). That film had a similar setup in which a group of people, about ten or so, go to a home out in the country and hangout, having various sexual encounters, but even they discuss the line in their relationships or lack thereof. I'm not sure, for example, what distinguishes Isabel's relationship with Román from her relationship with her female friend.

Carlos Hendrick Huber was one of the lead characters in Quintero's previous feature, Velociraptor. Here, he's again one of the lead characters. He plays Óscar, the guy with whom Román had sex. Despite his best friend being missing, he comes to this get-together, hoping to see Román and be his romantic partner. It's not clear, but it's likely Óscar is gay, not bisexual or fluid like Román and most of the others who show up to the get-together. He's gay and isn't necessarily promiscuous like the others. He just wants one guy and that guy is Román. He keeps getting calls from his dad about some issue that isn't really explored. He's more about his love for Román and pursuing that.

When it comes to the other characters here for the weekend, there's Rodrigo aka Roco, played by Christopher Aguilasocho. The vacation house or cabin in the woods seems to belong to his family. Roco is also the one who organizes this whole get-together. He's just a young guy who wants to do nothing but lounge around, doing drugs and having sex. He seems to be straight, but his sexuality will prove to be more fluid by the end of the weekend.  Others include Imanol, played by Axel Arenas who was also in Velociraptor but who was also in a really good short film called Trémulo (2015). Imanol is the one who tests the fluidity of Roco. There's two other female characters. Renata, played by Carolina Gómez, is the female friend who sleeps with Isabel. There's also Valentina, played by Ana Lourdes Zamarrón. A montage shows how fluid and how promiscuous Valentina is.

This brings me finally to Max Thomsen who was also featured in Quintero's Velociraptor. Here, he plays Hugo who is referred to as the "fat guy." Of all the people in this get-together, he's the only one whom we don't see having sex. It's implied that he and Valentina slept together because apparently she'll sleep with anything. Yet, the fact that we don't see Hugo have sex when everyone else gets a sex scene is a little unfair. The implied conclusion is that he didn't get a sex scene because he's fat, which is a form of body shaming. Otherwise, Quintero's film is certainly a good step toward the depiction of sexual fluidity and sexual freedom, which a lot of young people are embracing or at least not standing in judgment of which.

Los días particulares
Not Rated but contains nudity and intense sexuality.
Running Time: 1 hr. and 40 mins.

Available on Dekkoo.