Movie Review - Tu Me Manques (PrideFLIX)

This film was the official submission from Bolivia to the 92nd Academy Awards for Best International Feature. It was written and directed by Rodrigo Bellott. This is the second time Bellott has represented Bolivia in this regard. His film Sexual Dependency (2004) was submitted to the 76th Academy Awards. Bellott's films didn't get the Oscar nomination either time. It's interesting though because this film reminds me of another that did get nominated at this year's Oscars, that of Pedro Almodovar's Pain and Glory (2019). It's not simply because both films are in Spanish. Certain plotlines and themes from Almodovar's film echo in Bellott's. Namely, both are about a gay artist looking back on his life, as he's at the same time using his art to reckon with or pay homage to someone he loved where there is a blurring of the line between art-imitating-life or art-versus-reality.

Oscar Martínez (Wild Tales) stars as Jorge, the father to a young gay man who has just committed suicide. Jorge sees that his son's boyfriend has been trying to get into contact, so Jorge decides to call his son's boyfriend. Jorge was in denial about his son's homosexuality and even is angry at his son's boyfriend. Strangely though, Jorge decides to go from Santa Cruz de la Sierra in Bolivia all the way to New York City to confront his son's boyfriend and learn about his son's life there that he never realized. It's akin to Prayers for Bobby (2009) or Lilting (2014) in that both those stories were about mothers of gay sons who die way too early and their subsequent journey to change or understand their sons who passed. Here, the difference is that instead of a mother, it's the father.

Fernando Barbosa co-stars as Sebastian, a gay artist living in Brooklyn in 2016. Sebastian is being interviewed by someone about a play that Sebastian is producing. It's not clear at first, but we actually meet Sebastian before then. The timeline is a bit fractured, jumping back-and-forth, but Sebastian is first seen when Jorge calls him and tells him that Jorge's boyfriend, Gabriel, is dead. The film then proceeds to go back and show how Sebastian and Gabriel met, as well as what happened leading up to Gabriel's suicide. At the same time, the film proceeds to go forward a bit and show the play that Sebastian is producing.

This film is an adaptation of Bellott's 2015 play of the same name. It was a play that was meant for one night in Bolivia but was extended to four months due to the overwhelming demand and success of it. The play was inspired by the suicide of Bellott's boyfriend over his fear of coming out. This film is therefore quasi-autobiographical, much like Almodovar's Pain and Glory. Sebastian is clearly the proxy or the representation of Rodrigo Bellott in this film. Sebastian is staging a play, just as Bellott staged a play. Unlike Pain and Glory though, the art in question isn't telling a straightforward narrative. Sebastian's play, as probably Bellott's play, is a bit abstract or experimental. A large chunk of it towards the end is what looks like interpretative dance. Yet, that kind of abstract or experimental style isn't just limited to the play-within-the-play or the play-within-this-film. It also bleeds into what could have just been straightforward narrative storytelling.

Jose Duran, Quim del Rio and Ben Lukovski all play the character of Gabriel. Jose Duran plays Gabriel 1 or ostensibly the first Gabriel that we see. Quim del Rio plays Gabriel 2 or presumably the second Gabriel that we see. Ben Lukovski plays Gabriel 3 or arguably the third Gabriel that we see. It's not a totally unique concept, the idea of multiple actors playing the same character on screen without representing a jump in age. The first time that I saw this concept was in Todd Solondz's Palindromes (2005). The second time was Todd Haynes' I'm Not There (2007). The third time was Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009).

In those aforementioned films, changing actors who are playing the same character for reasons other than changing ages is tricky. The way that Solondz, Haynes and Gilliam did it made the actor changes obvious or at least more pointed. The first time that Bellott does it here, one might not even notice that it's happening. The first scene involving Gabriel, most of the time we only see the back of the actors' heads and the edits are so quick that it's hard to get a firm read on Gabriel. It's only at the very end of the film does this actor-swapping become more pronounced and quite frankly effective. It's when Gabriel is talking to his sister. Gabriel states he's still the same person despite what she might think. Gabriel says this as we see the three actors playing him swap in-and-out multiple times. The reason given for the actor-swapping makes sense, even though it's different from what we get from that scene with Gabriel's sister, but ultimately it stands to confuse more than clarify. This is because the actor-swapping doesn't feel purposeful but more random.

All the actors being swapped are cute and for sure are all eye-candy. However, the main point is seeing Jorge learn or discover who his son is. Jorge is then introduced to several of both his son and Sebastian's friends. Ironically, it's not his son's gay friends that have the most impact or connection. It's a straight woman who saw Jorge's son as a surrogate son of her own. Her name is Rosaura, played by Rossy de Palma who has actually been in several Almodovar films.

Lastly, even though this is mostly a Spanish-language film, the title actually is a French term, which translates to "I miss you in me." It can be used in Spanish, but, for those not familiar with either language that well, it does seem odd when Jorge says he doesn't know what it means. It takes on double meaning given that this is a film about loss and grief. It's a beautiful, fun and at times sexy film, with heartbreak that is well done. However, more engaging films about people grieving the loss of gay men came to mind like Urbania (2000) and Undertow (Contracorriente) (2010). I wasn't as moved here as I was with those previous films, but this one does have some good elements to it.

Not Rated but contains language, nudity and sexual situations.

Running Time: 1 hr. and 51 mins.

Available on PrideFLIX.