First, most of the reviews which rate the film at 8/10 or 10/10 are suspect, perhaps written by friends and family associated with the director, Jorge Ameer, or(-inclusive) lead actor, Matthew Leitch, "...the film summarizes Brian's (played by the very talented Matthew Leitch) travels through Panama and the high energy, intensely beautiful and awesome carnival of Las Tablas." Seriously?
Leaving aside what the movie intended to do, let's address what the movie does present. The movie is not a collage nor a kluge but a non sequitur sequence that portents at being some faux-reality narrative. In some sharing communities and in some listings, this movie is referred to as a gay themed film; in the background of the transition from the heteronormative almost pornographic first scene, following the opening credits, there is a movie poster to an actual gay themed film. This movie, on the other hand, there is no gay storyline, no gay theme, no well-defined gay character, and not even a hint of any homoerotic subtext between the faux video diary's subject and the friend hired as a camera man, the director himself, who we may assume is being himself and not playing some character. The only hint of anything "gay" is the man on man, again almost pornographic, fellatio scene. When asked how he will preoccupy himself on the aeroplane flight, the lead answers, "catch up on masturbating," to which a character responses without skipping a beat as if in midstream of another conversation, "oh, good idea. The weather is hot ..." Just when the movie starts to get interesting with the first and only dramatic turn, the movie ends with the lead character beating up to death? - we do not know because the movie ends showing Brian's bloody hands.
Another spoiler point, the full pornographic scene involves the lead character masturbating in Jorge's childhood bed.
Half the movie is long, panning shots, or, what in the industry lingo is called, B-roll footage.
The audience is given no resolution to the dramatic turn in the one graspable narrative of the movie, the lead character is catfished, a term that can be used now to describe such a situation coined by the titular film that came out or was made the same year, by a male scam artist, whose intensions were never explained, who pretended at being a female on some online forum that in the film is called "The List", a simulacrum of Craigslist.
Leaving aside what the movie intended to do, let's address what the movie does present. The movie is not a collage nor a kluge but a non sequitur sequence that portents at being some faux-reality narrative. In some sharing communities and in some listings, this movie is referred to as a gay themed film; in the background of the transition from the heteronormative almost pornographic first scene, following the opening credits, there is a movie poster to an actual gay themed film. This movie, on the other hand, there is no gay storyline, no gay theme, no well-defined gay character, and not even a hint of any homoerotic subtext between the faux video diary's subject and the friend hired as a camera man, the director himself, who we may assume is being himself and not playing some character. The only hint of anything "gay" is the man on man, again almost pornographic, fellatio scene. When asked how he will preoccupy himself on the aeroplane flight, the lead answers, "catch up on masturbating," to which a character responses without skipping a beat as if in midstream of another conversation, "oh, good idea. The weather is hot ..." Just when the movie starts to get interesting with the first and only dramatic turn, the movie ends with the lead character beating up to death? - we do not know because the movie ends showing Brian's bloody hands.
Another spoiler point, the full pornographic scene involves the lead character masturbating in Jorge's childhood bed.
Half the movie is long, panning shots, or, what in the industry lingo is called, B-roll footage.
The audience is given no resolution to the dramatic turn in the one graspable narrative of the movie, the lead character is catfished, a term that can be used now to describe such a situation coined by the titular film that came out or was made the same year, by a male scam artist, whose intensions were never explained, who pretended at being a female on some online forum that in the film is called "The List", a simulacrum of Craigslist.
