In one night full of intriguing glances in a very small apartment with a glorious of Paris, four gay men and a woman get along and learn a little of each other while. Their being together has a specific purpose and one that bounds them all. The viewer gets hints by some action off-camera, since the players come and go, by turns, into a room in the same apartment. 

The neon colors of the film provide an electric mood in blues, purples, turquoises, reds, and yellows. Photography is a plus as well as the two solo sequences of dance. (I would have liked more of the dancing). Lights and shadows relate to the monologues of each member and the group as a whole, in a dense and long conversation during the film, garnished with white wine, a dry saucisson, an Apple tart, and later, sardines with rice.

Sensual camerawork records while the viewer listens: It is the eyes,  pupils dilate when you like looking at someone, it is a reflex, like an erection of the eyes.. pupils dilate when is dark too.

In very much a theatrical setting Veronika (Manika Auxire), Lawrence (Lawrence Valin), Nathan (Simon Frenay),  Marius (Geoffre Couët) and Louis( Francois Nambot)  share their fantasies and fears.   One of them actually expresses that one can’t tell fiction from real life; they also make some confessions, reveal love expectations by saying most of their fantasies are suffering and humiliation because desire manipulates us all.

This is queer filmmakers Olivier Ducastel and Jacques Martineau follow up to their extraordinarily wonderful Paris 05:59: Théo & Hugo.  And its a very disappointing one at that.

 

Don't Look Down is released in the US by Tla Releasing and in the UK by Peccadillo and is available 
streaming on most major platforms

 

 

Review by José Mayorga 
Guatemala, Central America 

Lawyer and notary public, visual artist and editor of  El Azar Cultural. Lives and works in Guatemala City. Cinema lover,
curious about the possibilities life brings and eager to live the experience.