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From newbie Spanish writer/director Tiago Leão comes this overwhelmingly sad docudrama of four 20 something year olds who seek pleasure whenever and with whoever they can to escape the sheer loneliness of their lives. Set in the night streets of Madrid, these four separate different stories are each steeped in the same world of sex and drugs.
Altana, a woman in a man’s body, indiscriminately has sex for money which puts her/him often at risk. Lesbian Rita doesn’t care much for her partner, so plays the field as often as she can. Pierrick, a good looking French boy, is looking for love, but settles for sex when that’s all the boy he likes will offer. And Jorge? Well he’s miserable in his relationship with Maria.
What the movie lacks in plot details, it makes up for with explicit sex scenes. Lots of them. And drugs too naturally. After all these are not people earnestly looking to ‘find themselves,’ they simply want to pass the time being less bored and lonely.
It’s hard to warm to a movie with such a total lack of any joy at all : even the sex seemed like a chore to most of them. I’m sure someone somewhere, outside of Cannes will lap it up like they did at the Film Festival there.
Out this month on DVD.
★★★★★
