Matias (Gabriel Faryas) and Fabio (Henrique Barreira) are handsome, buff 23-year-old actors rehearsing a sold-out play with a prestigious theatre company in Porto Alegre, Brazil. The two friends live together and are equally ambitious and energetic. A casting agent is in town, scouting talent for a high-profile new TV series, and both men are keen to be cast. It is only Fabio, however, who gets called to audition for a role. Downcast Matias deals with his disappointment by hooking up online with a hot guy, 35-year-old Rafael (Cirillo Luna).

The hook-up goes well and the two men start meeting occasionally for sex. It soon becomes apparent to Matias that Rafael is quite powerful and well-connected. Matias eventually finds out that Rafael is a political candidate and the favorite to win the forthcoming city mayoral election. Matias, meanwhile, tricks his way into an audition for the TV series, and Rafael then uses his connections to get Matias the part that Fabio assumed was his, much to Fabio’s disgruntlement. This affects the two actors’ friendship.

Matias and Rafael have a great chemistry together and a mutual love of sex in increasingly public spaces, their recklessness at getting caught progressing by the day. Both men are simultaneously rapidly becoming high profile public personas and their careers are on the line should their public sex exhibitionism get exposed in the media. We edge along a fraught line with them.

Writer/directors Filipe Matzembacher and Marcio Reolon have created a deliciously erotic noir thriller with Night Stage. They successfully examine the often-conflicting roles people play in their public lives and their private lives. How much of their careers are these guys prepared to risk to satisfy their carnal lust? There’s a self-destructive streak in them that many viewers will recognise and connect with. Success has different, conflicting meanings to them and the journey between different successful outcomes could end up being troubled. The, often unnecessary, pressure society and power structures put on public figures to behave in a certain way is also studied. Why does public success have to stifle private success? We question the definition of a win. The resulting film is well-paced, moody, powerful and full of trepidation. Great casting is supported by deliciously dark cinematography and a strong soundtrack. The film is beautifully shot with the athletic dance and performance scenes in the play’s day time rehearsals contrasting strongly with Matias and Rafael’s night time romantic shenanigans. The mix of romance, suspense and adrenaline is also just right. It’s worth making an effort to see this Brazilian gem.