Tinta Bruta (Portuguese) [Hard Paint]

A melancholic film about a troubled young adult who is shy, hates going out of home and has troubles connecting with people and making friends. He is awkward and withdrawn but at night he is sexually provocative webcam dancer for gay men. This film is mostly about loneliness and yearning for company and love. There is a lot of social context from the point of view of the town of Porto Alegre where this is set in when apparently a lot of people are moving out.

The film is divided in 3 chapters: The first one is dedicated to his sister Luiza, who so far has been his companion and support for everything. And now she is moving to another city for better prospects leaving our protagonist Pedro alone. An already awkward Pedro is happy and very sad for being left behind but hopefully through his webcam dance shows he will keep busy. Pedro's speciality is that he uses glowing neon paint on his paint while performing shows for his audience but soon he realizes that his audience is reducing because someone is copying him. He meets this boy Leo (this is the second chapter) and both of them have an instant connection. They are both some kind of outcasts. Leo is working on website to save money in hopes to secure a dance scholarship. They both decide that they should do joint sessions and make money and split. Pedro slowly draws into Leo's circle of friends and gets a new perspective. Also there is a clear connection between two men and signs of love. This is also when we find out that Pedro is accused to violence against a college mate but it was a retaliation for all the years of bullying that he received from that man. But when Ben surprisingly gets a scholarship sooner than expected, Pedro is hurt and we go into third chapter of the NeonBoy himself. This part is slow, runs in depression, focuses on how lonely and emotional Pedro is but at the same time, when a guy tries to trick him, he is completely capable of violence. The film ends with a beautiful goodbye between Leo and Pedro.

This film is not an easy watch. It is slow, melancholic and does not leave you with a happy feeling but still it is a wonderful film with some very poignant and emotional moments. Pedro is an amazing actor and does a beautiful job showing 2 sides of him; the confident webcam performer and the gawky awkward social person. And so is Leo. They have an amazing chemistry. Their painted sex shows, with vibrant splashes of color pulsating in the semi-darkened room, have genuine electricity. The scene when Leo tells Pedro that he knows if him from the violence incident but even how at that point, he wanted to help Pedro, will leave you teary eyed. The beauty with which Leo explains the whole scene is an art. The script's treatment of homophobia, bullying feels grounded in authentic experience. The film has good moments of eroticism but this isn’t a flesh-and-fantasy frolic. You can feel the burden of being different, and the artificial construct of internet chats break down social bonds.

The film does end on a positive-ish note when there is hope for Pedro but only is he looks for for himself and tries to find love. The film is slow but you will definitely be able to connect with it. (7/10)

The Shortest Distance is Round 3: Fallen Flowers

Continuing with the weird trilogy of "The Shortest Distance", I am so glad that finally I am done with part 3 and won't have to deal with this again in future. Thankfully, as of now the makers have not announced any further parts; which will save all of us on this earth from the embarrassment of watching this in near future. After the first 10 minutes are used in sort of recapping bits of first two parts, the story moves forward. Haruto is now starting to have feelings for Ruka, the mysterious pole dancer from second part. In a fit of rage, Ruka ends up killing the goat man and to save him and Haruto, Shibahara asks them to go underground. Meanwhile Shibahara continues the search for Seiya (the guy who had cut off Haruto's penis). It turns out Seiya is now also taking care of the original club owner from part 1. Both of them were released after they had informed Shibahara of Aoyama's secret location. Shibahara tortures Seiya's boyfriend leading to Seiya killin

One Summer Night (Korean)

I really wanted to like this film but for non native speakers, these movie leaves a lot to be understood and the way scenes were unfolding in front of me, I wasn't sure many times what was really going on. The story had potential button getting any back story on any of the characters limited my ability to empathize with any of these actors. Film starts with two North Korea military guys Yong Joon and Jae Sung having sex and they are caught red handed and they run. Three years later we see Yong Joon in Seoul leading a very mundane and poor life. He has a boyfriend Tae-Kyu, who is a weird guy. He is carefree, doesn't do any work and is completely emotional and financially dependent on Young Joon. In fact, even Yong Joon will go to any lengths to protect him , fend for him and taking care of him to the extent of even taking up prostitution. Suddenly one day Jae Sung appears in their life again. His motivation is not clear but it is obvious he wants Yong Joon back in his life, who

Ultimate masturbation: Shigoki no yama (Japanese) [The Ultimate Masturbation]

I would never know what was the point behind making this film. Was it supposed to be a comedy, cos it wasn't. It wasn't even porn. It was just a silly attempt at making something absolutely senseless and ridiculous. The story, as well as direction is equally shoddy. You could laugh for having seen something so bad, but I wouldn't call that comedy. An old man runs a camp about gay masturbation. The explanation given is that gays masturbate for pleasure unlike straight men, for whom the act is seen as shame or because they can't find a woman. One day a straight man shows up and wants to join the camp for his thesis. After discussion, he is allowed in. Rules include that you can masturbate together, you can masturbate one another, but there is no fellatio or anal sex. Some students of course breaks rule. The teacher then talks about 2 forms of masturbation which gives ultimate pleasure. He shows one without touching and then refuses to talk of the other. Somehow suddenly,

ILHiker said…

Went with this since it was the same two directors as Seashore for another first watch. It was really a pitch-perfect movie and performances. I think of how many ways it could have gone maudlin or trite and it never went there. The other strange thing is that I've been seeking out blatantly happy movies of late and this was anything but, and yet left me feeling so hopeful. There's really no good reason for it, given the main character has lost everything including his means of income and will likely be homeless quite soon, but there it is. I think it's because he's so incredibly resilient and stays away from self-pity for his situations in life. The look and tone of the movie was spot on, I liked the appropriate amount and type of nudity rather than shying away from it or exploiting it, I liked the clearly versatile sex scene, the relationship between the two leads while it lasted. It seemed like just pressure upon pressure on the main character and yet he's still there and dancing at the end. So different from Seashore, but there's a self-contained, intense quality common between this main character and the boy with the blue hair. Or maybe my own mood is shifting, who knows? Thanks for responding to my comments. I feel a little off-kilter since that emotionally profound retreat I went to but I'm coming back together bit by bit.

September 21, 2022 at 9:13 PM

Golu said…

after reading your comments, I just want to sent a warm hug your way :)

September 22, 2022 at 8:48 AM

Thanks for the hug--I think I needed it more than I realized. I kept on with these two directors to The Nest (O Ninho) their 2016 miniseries of four 25-minute episodes. I didn't see it on here, though I may not have searched well. It was really good as well, though left me a little sad. Boy on leave from the army, same town as the above movie, looking for his older brother, who ran away from their troubled home a long time ago. He's gay like his older brother was, makes friends and meets others, experiences homophobia, questions what he wants. There's a lot of inner stuff going on I think, like these directors' other movies, and there's a moment when we just look at his expression towards the end that says a lot. They write well, direct well, and have a knack for finding gorgeous gay men and getting great performances out of them. I don't think it occurred to me until later (when I was trying to go to sleep, lol) how sensual some of the scenes in the above move and Seashore were. That gets me current on their feature-length work. They have some short films out there, but they don't seem to have a vimeo or youtube channel so it may be some time before I run across them. I"m taking a little overnight trip with my sister this weekend which should be very healthy for me. I've cinematically traveled through a lot of South America the last week or two, so now we'll see what Wisconsin in the real world holds for me.

September 22, 2022 at 6:14 PM

Have fun on your weekend trip

September 23, 2022 at 9:40 AM

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