Film maker Marco Berger has woven a magical near-perfect experience that works it's way under your skin. It's very unusual, and it took a couple of days for the subtle, hypnotic impact to sink in; I've returned to it again and again. It develops slowly and deliberately, with lots of silence, lots of looks, glances, stares. For the last 17 minutes, there is no dialog at all.
I love how their often non-verbal interaction gradually becomes increasingly physical over the summer as time goes on, touching each other's body casually for various reasons, which gets progressively erotic. When Martín smiles, he lights up the whole screen. But poor Martin becomes increasingly confused and frustrated, badly wanting to take the relationship to the next level; while cerebral Eugenio for some strange inexplicable reason isn't ready to go there - until he is confronted with what he is missing, has to deal with how he's actually feeling, and is finally prodded to act.
I get a chuckle from the brief scene where Eugenio's older brother makes a flying visit, and teases him mercilessly about a possible future scenario where he takes Martin back to Buenos Aires to live with him, gets him a construction job, and is ready with dinner when he comes home in the evening. And I think to myself "yeah actually that sounds pretty great".
My only issue with this film is that the two actors are straight. In my personal experience this gives a COMPLETELY different atmosphere than if they were gay or bi. The actors are unaffected, it kicks up the testosterone level, and amps up the level of fantasy wish-fulfillment for gay male viewers. I'm not objecting to this exactly, I think its hot; it's just that it isn't quite true to life. My prime example of this would be the legendary U.S. masterpiece "Shelter" (2007). Compare this to the recent very fun erotically-charged 17-minute short "It's Still Your Bed" (2019), where the 2 hot young gay actors deftly portray the subtle jockeying that goes on when two not-quite-openly-gay guys are thrown together, and try to figure out if a hook up is possible. I'm not saying that it's better or worse; just different.
I love how their often non-verbal interaction gradually becomes increasingly physical over the summer as time goes on, touching each other's body casually for various reasons, which gets progressively erotic. When Martín smiles, he lights up the whole screen. But poor Martin becomes increasingly confused and frustrated, badly wanting to take the relationship to the next level; while cerebral Eugenio for some strange inexplicable reason isn't ready to go there - until he is confronted with what he is missing, has to deal with how he's actually feeling, and is finally prodded to act.
I get a chuckle from the brief scene where Eugenio's older brother makes a flying visit, and teases him mercilessly about a possible future scenario where he takes Martin back to Buenos Aires to live with him, gets him a construction job, and is ready with dinner when he comes home in the evening. And I think to myself "yeah actually that sounds pretty great".
My only issue with this film is that the two actors are straight. In my personal experience this gives a COMPLETELY different atmosphere than if they were gay or bi. The actors are unaffected, it kicks up the testosterone level, and amps up the level of fantasy wish-fulfillment for gay male viewers. I'm not objecting to this exactly, I think its hot; it's just that it isn't quite true to life. My prime example of this would be the legendary U.S. masterpiece "Shelter" (2007). Compare this to the recent very fun erotically-charged 17-minute short "It's Still Your Bed" (2019), where the 2 hot young gay actors deftly portray the subtle jockeying that goes on when two not-quite-openly-gay guys are thrown together, and try to figure out if a hook up is possible. I'm not saying that it's better or worse; just different.