Manuel is a furniture designer and rugged tattooed Julio is unemployed and they both seem very fragile after being hurt and disappointed by recent relationships that have failed and left them somewhat wary.  The sex that follows their initial conversation is hot and passionate leads both men to open up more about their fears and desires of allowing any sort of intimate relationship to develop from this first lustful encounter.

And then the doubt starts to creep in to this seemingly perfect scenario as Julio ignores his constantly ringing phone offering a lame excuse, and so an annoyed Manuel asks him to leave.  He has a change of heart however at the front door and the two men kiss and make up. But Manual also acts irrationally by suddenly saying that he wants them both to leave town the next morning and run-off together even though they’ve only just met.

What starts out innocently as a sexy romantic hook up soon becomes somewhat intense as the power dynamic constantly shifts between the two men and there is the very real possibility that either one or even both of them have dark secrets that they want to keep hidden.  Before the night is over there is  a surprising and dramatic twist that turns this story of romance into a rather passionate and shocking thriller.

Writer/director Marcelo Briem Stamm with this his debut feature is continuing the well deserved reputation that Argentina has established for producing rather fine gay movies that belie the micro-budgets that they were made on.  It shows great promise from this newbie filmmaker, and also this essentially two-hander piece has the benefit of both the inexperienced young leads giving convincing and very watchable performances.

‘Solo’ keeps you guessing to the very end, and is probably the most scary hook-up movie I have seen for some time.

Available now in DVD & VOD