This film premiered at the 75th Venice Film Festival in September 2018. It was the first film from Guatemala and Central America ever presented at that festival. It won the Queer Lion, which is the award given to the best movie with LGBT themes or culture. It played in LGBTQ film festivals in the United States all through 2019. It got a limited, theatrical release in the winter or early 2020 from Outsider Pictures in arthouses like the Laemmle. However, in the wake of the coronavirus and Covid-19 pandemic, which hit in the wake of this film's release, it was added to what's called "Virtual Cinema" for the spring and early summer of 2020. It's still currently available on Row8, which is a digital service, a streaming platform that allows for what's called "premium video on demand" or PVOD, films that are first-run and new. It's too small a film to get on the radar of most mainstream award shows, but it's a perfect film to spotlight for Pride Month. It might be currently the best gay film of the year.
Li Cheng is a Chinese filmmaker who on his own and with his own funds went to Central America and learned about the people and the culture there. He visited several countries before settling on Guatemala. His focus is on the poverty and the homophobia in the country. What he crafts is a character-study about a Guatemalan, gay man, navigating life on the poorer side of town, as well as his sexuality, something about which he can't be open.
Enrique Salanic, in his feature debut, stars as José, a 19-year-old boy in Guatemala City. He's old enough to be in college, but it's clear his family doesn't have the resources for that. It's a wonder if he even graduated from secondary school. He works at a restaurant, basically as a waiter. His responsibilities though are mainly outside, doing something I've never seen. José has to chase cars that drive past the restaurant. His job is to get them to stop and eat at the restaurant. Sometimes, it involves him having to throw himself in front of a car, risking getting hit. It's indicative of the desperation and poverty, the need to get money, even in extreme cases. Once he flags down a car, the customers don't even have to get out. José will deliver orders, as if it were a drive-in but with little to no parking, as the streets are jam-packed with automobiles.
During breaks from work or before he goes home, José will go online on his mobile phone. We never see what he's searching on his phone, but usually shots of him on his phone will be followed by sexual encounters that he has with other young men. After ward, he goes home where he lives with his single mother who seemingly works in food sales too. José of course doesn't talk about his male lovers. The presence of a preacher on the bus he rides in the early morning, spitting Bible verses, reinforces the fact that this is a Catholic country. His reticence to talk about it, his mostly silence throughout this film, is indicative of the homophobia in the air and in the culture of this city.
Manolo Herrera co-stars as Luis, a construction worker who's around the same age as José. Yet, he's not from the city. He's from a rural area called Izabal. However, he does live in the city now with his single mother and two brothers. He doesn't really enjoy city life though. He wants to leave and possibly return to Izabal. He's one of several men with whom José has sex. Yet, it's almost instant that the two form a bond. It's quick, but Cheng really sells that bond with a good amount of sensuality and the two intimately framed for an extended scene that's mostly played as one, long continuous take of the Latino men in bed together.
Cheng doesn't drag out the romance here, but he finds ways to sell it and convince us of the bonding between the two in almost a too brief second act of this film. Cheng simply finds scenes and moments that are sensual and sexy. A motorcycle ride that leads to a moment inside tall, corn stalks is probably the most romantic sequence I've seen in a long time. The passion here is something I haven't seen in film since If Beale Street Could Talk (2018), which was my favorite film of that year. This film is definitely a contender in that regard.
Like
If Beale Street Could Talk, the ending here is a bittersweet one. Despite the tragedy though,
If Beale Street Could Talk has somewhat of a hopeful final moment. The final moment here like the final moments of many queer films, especially queer films about gay men, since
Brokeback Mountain (2005) is one of loneliness and isolation. The theme of loneliness and isolation is particularly underlined here and Cheng certainly makes you feel it from scene to scene. Yes, when José gets a text or some kind of communication from Luis, it fills him with joy, but the circumstances and culture that surround him seem to push him toward a lonely life with his mother as his only companion but one whom he'll eventually outlive.
Unfortunately, it's a common theme from LGBT films from around the world. Some of those films include Free Fall (2014) from Germany, The Pass (2016) from the UK, The Wound (2017) from South Africa, Loev (2017) from India, Mario (2018) from Switzerland, The Cakemaker (2018) from Israel, Sauvage / Wild (2019) from France, Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019) also from France and And Then We Danced (2020) from Georgia. This film could be one to add to this list, this list of films that conclude with the lonely, queer character. It could come across then as cliché and hackneyed, but Cheng manages to inject such warmth, heart, vibrancy and again passion that it feels fresh, even if you've seen all those aforementioned films.
Not Rated but contains full-frontal male nudity and intense sexuality.
Running Time: 1 hr. and 25 mins.
Available on VOD.
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