Frantz, 2016

In the aftermath of World War I in 1919 Germany, Anna notice a stranger placing flowers on the grave of her fiance, Frantz. She now lives with Frantz's parents,  (a doctor who refuses to treat French patients) and his equally upset wife. In fact anti-French feelings run high in the town. The stranger is Adrien and he and Anna slowly get to know each other. He and Frantz were best friends in Paris and then both enlisted in their respective armies ...

This is a slow, languid film with marvellous widescreen black and white photography, with occasional moments of pale colour, and it confounds our expectations of where the story is going. Just when we think it is almost over there follows another departure as Anna travels to Paris to find the missing Adrien and ends up meeting his wealthy family. The upper class milieu of concerts and art galleries is nicely depicted, and is certainly a departure for Francois Ozon, the gay French director who has been very prolific - is it really seven years since his delightful POTICHE (reviews of this and other Ozons (SWIMMING POOL, UNDER THE SAND, 8 WOMEN. TIME TO LEAVE etc at Ozon label).

Paula Beer (new to me) is marvellous as Anna, a quiet controlled performance drawing the camera to her, and Pierre Niney is new too as Adrien. Highly recommended for when one is in the mood for something different (rather like Fassbinder's EFFI BRIEST also with that marvellous monochrome photography and hypnotic slow pace).

Co-scripted by Ozon loosely based on a 1932 Lubitch film BROKEN LULLABY.

New must sees ...

Now the festival season is over and winter settling in, the new Award Season should be underway for the next Oscar ballyhoo in February. Three I particularly want to see are the new Luca Guadagnino CALL ME BY YOUR NAME, Annette Bening (surely leading the Best Actress nominations) as Gloria Graham in FILM STARS DON'T DIE IN LIVERPOOL and PADDINGTON 2- my lofty film buff friends turned up their noses at the first one, boy are they missing out ... 

The Crown

Slight reservations about the massive Netflix series THE CROWN, Series 1 is now a 4 dvd pack (10 one-hour long episodes), as they film Series 2.  One can see the quality and the interesting casting, but it moves at a slow pace and Buckingham Palace seems a very gloomy, dark place, with all those older ministers and courtiers - but I presume thats how the Fifties are perceived now.

Stealing the show four episodes in is the venerable Dame Eileen Atkins as Queen Mary, a role she has played a few times. Claire Foy and Matt Smith are growing into their roles, but will be replaced by older actors as the decades pass .... John Lithgow is a terrific Churchill, and there's Jeremy Northam (Anthony Eden), Greg Wise (Lord Mountbatten), Harriet Walter (Lady Churchill) and more, who capture the essence of their characters, without being lookalikes. Victoria Hamilton is a perfect Queen Mother, but Jared Harris seems all wrong as George VI (it begins with him coughing up blood, while drinking more whiskey and endlessly smoking, and shooting wildlife. The very busy Alex Jennings would be much better here, but he plays the brother who abdicated. Showing the coronation scene mainly through his eyes is genius. Vanessa Kirby looks like being an ideal Princess Margaret too.

Surely though Princess Elizabeth knew she would always be queen and was trained to step into her father's shoes, so why all the nervous stares and looking like a scared rabbit in the early scenes. The marriage in 1947 and the births of her first two children (surely important events for her) are glossed over too. Still, there will be a lot to cover ... television costume drama at its best then, these early episodes are directed by Stephen Daldry and its written by Peter Morgan (THE QUEEN). Its certainly better than the risible VICTORIA!

Series 2 starting next month continues from 1956 so we should see a lot more of Margaret once she meets Tony Armstrong Jones.

Above: the Royal Family at Windsor Royal Lodge, by Herbert James Gunn, 1950.

Nocturnal Animals, 2016

Another polarishing experience  - a movie one will either love or hate, as per 20TH CENTURY WOMEN (see below). Tom Ford's NOCTURNAL ANIMALS was one of the big hitters of the last award season, but I had put off seeing it for a while.  I somehow felt it was not for me. His previous film, A SINGLE MAN, in 2010, was equally polarising, glamorising Christopher Isherwood's downbeat modern classic of crumpled middle-aged folk - hard to believe Colin Firth or Julianne Moore here, and the plot had major changes too - as per my review at the time (see A SINGLE MAN/ Ford labels) - there being no gun or suicide intent in Isherwood's original, and the whole thing being far too glamorous and high fashion for its 1962 setting. But enough of that ...

NOCTURNAL ANIMALS may be among the darkest films I have seen - meaning that lots of it take place in the dark and one can barely see what is happening ...

A "story inside a story," in which the first part follows a woman named Susan who receives a book manuscript from her ex-husband, a man whom she left 20 years earlier, asking for her opinion. The second element follows the actual manuscript, called "Nocturnal Animals," which revolves around a man whose family vacation turns violent and deadly. It also continues to follow the story of Susan, who finds herself recalling her first marriage and confronting some dark truths about herself.

Two stories dovetail here: one in which art gallery curator Amy Adams, who seems to lead a glacial existence in her art gallery and perfect home, receives a manuscript from her estranged husband Jake Gyllenhaal and then we see the story within the script as she reads it ... as it follows a man who suffers tragedy out in the Texan wilderness, as his family is abducted, and his mission to seek vengeance on the scuzzy lowlifes, with the aid of a local lawman Michael Shannon. It goes from noir to thriller but remains a disjointed melodrama. Adams and Gyllenhaal shine and we gone a scene each from Laura Linney and Michael Sheen. But what does it all add up to? Right: Tom Ford's 2006 VANITY FAIR Hollywood issue.  

20th Century Women

I had been looking forward to this - movie buff Martin had it as his "personal favourite" film of 2016 - and we all like Annette Bening. But I found I did not go overboard for this at all, finding it tedious, plotless, pointless, like the worst of indie cinema, so why bother reviewing it?

The story of a teenage boy, his mother, and two other women who help raise him among the love and freedom of Southern California of 1979.

Well, Annette Bening is marvellous as the perfect Mom, worrying about her 15 year old son - rather a blank here as played by Lucas Jade Zumann.  Elle Fanning is as dull and blank as she was in THE NEON DEMON and Greta Gerwig can't make much of her punk photographer, while Billy Crudup completes the lineup as the other lodger.

Set in Santa Barbara in 1979 it captures American suburbia nicely, with the hippie-ish folk. We watch in amazement as Bening lights up one cigarette after another (there is a price to be paid for that...), and has some rather nice moments when alone with her cat, and there is that nice climax as she flies over the ocean. But really, if I had been watching this in the cinema I would have walked by the half way point, and so it seems would a lot of the writers of the comments on IMDB, so its a rather polarising film which one will either love completely or feel mainly indifferent to. I felt the same about BOYHOOD the other year, another mainly plotless, aimless movie covering the same territory. 

Bening of course has been marvellous in so many things, from THE GRIFTERS to AMERICAN BEAUTY to THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT and here, 

Funnily enough I liked Mike Mills' previous film more: BEGINNERS from 2010, where Ewan McGregor is the son of aged Christopher Plummer who comes out as gay in his old age. That moved along nicely and had a plot one could relate to. His new film is semi-autobiographical, based on memories of his own mother and influences on his childhood. It all just seemed far too long and repetitive, but I better say no more about it in case others love it to death.  

Marie Antoinette, 2006

MARIE ANTOINETTE Sofia Coppola’s 2006 film holds up well after a ten year gap in viewing. Is it marketed for a teen audience or does it depict Marie as an impressionable teen which today’s teens can relate to? The production is sumptuous as the teenage Marie leaves Austria to travel to France when still only 14 to marry Louis XVI and become queen at 19. We spend a lot of time with the teen Marie Antoinette (and Kirsten Dunst is perfect in the role) as she gets used to the lavish court and the rituals she has to abide by. It starts rather like Von Sternberg's 1934 THE SCARLETT EMPRESS with that other more knowing teenager heading off to become Catherine The Great ....

Later the birth of her children when in her 30s after she finally gets her husband to consummate the marriage is all glossed over rather quickly. The mob only appear once at the climax as she bows to the will of the people and we end with her and her family in a carriage, as the sun sets, on their way to their destiny.. The cast is quite good – nice to see Marianne Faithfull (if only briefly) as her mother Maria Theresa, and comedian Steve Coogan as the advisor, Rip Torn as the older king and Jason Schwartzmann as the diffident husband, plus Judy Davis, Rose Byrne and Tom Hardy. We also get to see a lot of the opulent and eccentric court at Versailles as Marie matures. Other characters like the Princess Lamballe and Count Fersen are rather glossed over.

The modern (well, 80s) music by the likes of Adam and the Ants, Bow Wow Wow and The Cure has caused a lot of comment (there are 854 reviews on IMDB alone! - as one puts it: "Gidget goes to Versailles and when she gets there, she gets bored, gossips, reads Rousseau, and has beach-blanket pot parties and wild balls in Amadeus outfits".) but for me it suits the images – even the shot of the trainers among the shoes – as these are the bored teens of their time, as they indulge in clothes, shoes, cakes and champagne.

We do not see enough of the mature queen or her trial where she defended herself, but this obviously was not part of Coppola’s plan – she also scripted from the well-regarded Antonia Fraser biography. Fraser expressed pleasure with the end result but then what historian would not like a lavish film to be made from their historical tome?

So really it is all about Marie Antoinette as a sweet, utterly conventional and finally boring teenage girl acting out the fantasy of becoming a queen without realising the implications that follow … certainly a fascinating contrast to the equally opulent MGM film of 1938 with Norma Shearer's majestic performance. There will always be a market for doomed queens, whether Marie Antoinette, Mary Queen of Scots or Elizabeth (Sissi) of Austria - Marie's story though is hard to beat - and it looks marvellous of course, as good as anything in BARRY LYNDON (which set the benchmark for period films).

Carol at 9pm

We did several posts of Todd Haynes' CAROL here in recent years, as per labels, nice to see it is on Channel4 here in the UK tonight. My friend Martin would say "I have the blu-ray so I can watch it anytime", but it means it will be seen by a bigger audience here than on its initial rather limited release in 2015.

It has been announced that Cate will play Margo Channing in a stage production of ALL ABOUT EVE here in London next year .... lets hope its from Mankiewicz's original and not a re-working of the horrendous '70s musical APPLAUSE ! 

The Pass

An odd little drama that barely got a look in last year. My movie buff pal Martin hated it with a vengance .... 

Nineteen-year-old Jason (Russell Tovey) and Ade (Arinze Kene) have been in the Academy of a famous London football club since they were eight years old. It's the night before their first-ever game for the first team - a Champions League match - and they're in a hotel room in Romania. They should be sleeping, but they're over-excited. They skip, fight, mock each other, prepare their kit, watch a teammate's sex tape. And then, out of nowhere, one of them kisses the other. The impact of this 'pass' reverberates through the next ten years of their lives - a decade of fame and failure, secrets and lies, in a sporting world where image is everything.

It began as a play a few years ago, with Russell Tovey who must have had faith in the project as he leads the cast here (and shows off his buff bod), and it does raise important point on the closeted lives some professional sportspeople (not just footballers) must lead, at what cost to themselves, as they marry and create sex-tapes to avoid the rumours, then there are those eager hotel bellboys .... It gets rather tedious as one waits for something to happen, and its not very enjoyable - Tovey's character is totally repellant. Directed by Ben A Williams and script by John Donnelly. 

FEUD ?

WHEN is this going to be screened here in the UK? The word is good and it looks super, with Susan Sarandon an effective Bette Davis and Jessica Lange as Joan Crawford. Alfred Molina looks right too as BABY JANE director Robert Aldcrich .... 9 episodes I understand, we looking forward to this Ryan Murphy extravaganza.

Back to La La Land

A return visit to LA LA LAND was nice this week, for a rainy afternoon, as my partner had not seen it, and yes, he loved it - the music and dancing and the jazz and all those bright colours. I liked it a lot too again, but it seemed a tad too long, and maybe shallow. 

But hey, we like Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone is a big discovery for me and some sequences just sang for me, recalling moments from the Cukor 1954 A STAR IS BORN (walking around the movie sound stages), AN AMERICAN IN PARIS,  SINGING IN THE RAIN, THE BANDWAGON's "Dancing In The Dark"- Minnelli is a big influence here as is French director Jacques Demy - echoes of UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG and particuarly THE YOUNG GIRLS OF ROCHEFORT, that 1967 delight and of course Scorsese's NEW YORK NEW YORK with that other driven, more intense couple both finding their individual careers but having to separate to do so - LA LA LAND is not quite in that league, but has so many blissful moments we don't care, thanks to Damien Chazelle's flair. He captures the spirit of those films and recreates it in present day Los Angeles - Joni's "city of the fallen angels", taking in REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE's Griffith Park Observatory along the way. 
More on Scorsese, Demy, Minnelli and Ryan at labels. 

Hockney style

As per other reports here, we first discovered David Hockney in the 1960s - that new age of the colour supplements, which featured him a lot. Not only the art, but we liked the look too - he actually looked like the work he produced. It was a very individual look for 1966, of course he had dyed his hair blonde and those round black glasses - as I saw myself then (as mentioned before, Hockney label). 

I was 20 in 1966 and had moved to central London, Bayswater - a short walk to trendy Notting Hill Gate, where I ventured into my first gay pub, in or near Pembridge Villas. A man with that look was there, it could only have been Hockney, maybe visiting from LA. I recognised him right away, but just had a drink and left. Perhaps if I had lingered, I may have been a pool boy myself?  Right: I have had this French poster framed, since 1974.

Jack Hazan's film A BIGGER SPLASH, daring at the time,  continued our fascination with David and his 1970s coterie. He later said he had not realised how much he had been filmed, but surely he must have realised there was a man with a camera in the shower with him ..... 

David of course is now 80 this year and has become the grand old man of British art, still painting and still smoking. The latest huge exhibition at the Tate Gallery opens this week and runs to May, we will be going of course. 

The Look continues: those blocks of colour, wearing odd socks, striped knitted ties, yellow flat caps, and lots of fancy rugger shirts in pastel hues, with baggy cargo trousers and tennis shoes, and cardigans.

London will be gearing up for Hockney fever again, as this latest exhibition gets underway.

Paris la nuit avec Theo et Hugo

THEO & HUGO, 2016. Hugo (François Nambot) and Théo (Geoffrey Couët) meet, in a highly-explicit fashion, in a French sex club. After they put their clothes back on and head into the Paris night, their conversation about how their sexual encounter had a deeper meaning seems to indicates the start of romance (though one has to ask who looks for romance in a naked sex club?) But their budding affair comes under strain when the confession of a mistake by one of the young men prompts a revelation from the other. 

This is pretty much a two-hander film which both actors rise to – including having real sex with each other. Paris by night is fascinatingly depicted too – I used to know to well in the 80s – as we take in the kebab shop and the first metro. The long central hospital sequence is interesting too, as the film plays out more or less in real time.

The long twenty-minute opening sequence in the sex club may be an eye-opener for some, but once the actors get dressed and venture out into the Paris night as they tentatively get to know each other the plot develops as we take in the consequences of having unprotected sex …..a more explicit WEEKEND (2011) then.

I like directors Olivier Ducastel and Jacques Martineau’s earlier JEANNE AND THE PERFECT GUY from 1998, also an Aids-related subject starring Virginie Ledoyen and Mathieu Demy, the son of Jacques Demy and Agnes Varda. This latest film of the duo Ducastel and Martineau is another major landmark in gay cinema.

A different kind of gay flick is the Hungarian LAND OF STORMS from 2014, by Adam Csaszi. It drew me in with its slow moody pace, as we follow the young footballer Szabi, who has an intense relationship with  fellow player Bernard, as he returns to his rural village to renovate a house he has inherited as he wants to give up football; he hires surly local youth Aron to help and another relationship of sorts develops, to the annoyance of Aron's ailing mother and the villagers. Bernard turns up to re-claim Szabi who has to decide what he really wants. The ending though is a nasty surprise one is not expecting, but I suppose it highlights the East European homophobic mindset (though Hungary, like the Czechs) had a booming porn industry.

La La Land

Finally, LA LA LAND. See the hit movie, sure, but don't think it's the best musical ever just because you've never seen a musical.

The Oracle, my friend Martin says:

Believe the hype! Damien Chazelle's gorgeous, bitter-sweet new musical LA LA LAND filters both Demy and Minnelli through Chazelle's own post-modern vision of a 21st century LA that's steeped in a mythical musical past. This is a movie the way I sometimes remember movies used to be; big, bold, innovative and totally unafraid to take chances. It begins with a genuinely entrancing homage to the kind of fifties song-and-dance films that Gene Kelly might have dreamed up before launching into a boy-meets-girl love affair that isn't afraid to threaten to turn sour a la NEW YORK NEW YORK, (another musical it pays homage to with its jazz inflected score), but never really does. 

This is a truly uplifting experience. unashamedly romantic and blessed with a couple of sublime performances from Ryan Gosling and especially Emma Stone who together make falling in love seem like the most natural thing in the world. LA LA LAND recently picked up seven Golden Globes and is virtually guaranteed to sweep the boards at next month's Oscars. Who says they don't make 'em like this anymore.

I agree with most of that, but I do not regard it a a muscial as such - apart from the astonishing opening scene on the freeway, and some nice moments with the two leads dancing. Anyone who knows Jacques Demy's UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG or, especially, LES DEMOISELLES DE ROCHEFORT from 1967 with its candy colours and the whole cast dancing - and yes, an older Gene Kelly is there too - will find much to enjoy here. It is certainly the film of the season, let's see how the rest of the awards pile up ...

The Neon Demon

What to say about Nicolas Winding Refn's latest THE NEON DEMON? Do I even want to say anything about it? We had been anticipating it, as we liked his DRIVE a lot, seen it several times, and I totally got and loved ONLY GOD FORGIVES, which alienated a lot, but it hypnotic hallucinogenic Tarantino-on-acid revenge tale with that amazing performance from Kristen Scott Thomas totally wowed me. (Reviews at Ryan Gosling label). 

THE NEON DEMON though seems to be all style and no substance, it starts great - super visuals and soundtrack. But whatever the "thing" that teen model Jesse has and which the other models want, somehow eludes me. She just seems passive and bland, and if she is the next big thing why is she staying in a seedy, rundown motel, run by a scuzzy Keanu Reeves? Then what do we make of that large animal in her room .... 

The sixteen year-old aspiring model Jesse arrives in Los Angeles expecting to be a successful model. Photographer Dean takes photos for her portfolio and dates her. Jesse befriends the lesbian makeup artist Ruby and then the envious models Gigi and Sarah at a party. Meanwhile the agency considers Jesse beautiful with a "thing" that makes her different and she is sent to the professional photographer Jack. Jesse attracts he attention of the industry and has a successful beginning of career. But Ruby, Gigi and Sarah are capable of doing anything to get her "thing". 

There are points to be made about the fashion industry and how it devours (literally here) new talent ... but we also get long pauses as that climax unfolds. I can't say any more about that, but one is left at the end thinking is that it?  Despite the grand guignol climaxes and that morgue scene, it is all rather forgettable. It is certainly though a polarising movie - some love it for the visuals and style, while others hate the story and the characters and those laughable eye-popping scenes! 

Festive cheer 4

A final Christmas movie choice is 2007's HOW ABOUT YOU? - I don't know if it even opened back then, but its a pleasing end of year amusement. If you are going to film a soapy Maeve Binchy story then the way to do it is to make it look good and get some venerable old thespians on board, and so it is here. There's a nice Irish country house, posing as a retirement home, and the main regulars are Vanessa Redgrave, Imelda Staunton, Brenda Fricker and veteran Joss Ackland (I saw him on stage with Ingrid Bergman 45 years ago.

The plot is about 4 tiresome residents who have upset everyone else and are left alone for Christmas, with young Hayley Atwell (one of the Keeley Hawes-Gemma Atherton school of young actresses) who is minding the place for her sister who has to leave to care for their ill mother. 

She soon gets tired of the antics of the residents and tells them they will have to leave as the home will be closed down if they do not behave. So old showgirl Vanessa, bickering sisters Imelda and Breda, and old curmudgeon Joss have to buckle down and enjoy Christmas.

Its an amusing hour and a half, filmed in nice Irish locations by Anthony Byrne, of course snooty movie buffs would not give it the time of day, but for us others it passed an evening pleasantly enough.

Ethel & Ernest

A late year treat was the BBC's 90 minute animated feature ETHEL & ERNEST, a lovingly crafted portrayal of the marriage and life of Raymond Briggs' parents covering their meeting in 1928 and married life through wartime Britain (its very THIS HAPPY BREED) and their inevitable getting older and decline through the 60s and 70s, as their son, young Raymond, grows up, goes to college and gets married.  One may need a tissue at the forlorn end. 

In 1928 London milk-man Ernest Briggs courts and marries house-maid Ethel, their son Raymond being born in 1934. When World War II breaks out Ethel tearfully allows him to be evacuated to aunts in Dorset whilst Ernest joins the fire service, shocked by the carnage he sees. As hostilities end they celebrate Raymond's return and entry to grammar school and the birth of the welfare state though Ethel is mistrustful of socialism and progress in general. Raymond himself progresses from National Service to art college and a teaching post, worrying his mother by marrying schizophrenic Jean. However father and son console each other as Ethel slips away but before long Raymond is mourning his father too though both Ethel and Ernest will forever be immortalized by Raymond's touching account of their lives. 

I have liked Briggs' style of drawing and those marvellous books, particularly FUNGUS THE BOGEYMAN and of course THE SNOWMAN, SANTA CLAUS, THE WAY THE WIND BLOWS etc. and this new one is equally inventive and touching. Ethel and Ernest are perfectly voiced by Brenda Blethyn and Jim Broadbent, and Luke Treadaway is young Raymond. Directed by Roger Mainwood. It is really the story of all our parents who grew up then, and endured World War II - my mother was in London during the Blitz and told us all those stories about the doodlebugs, rationing, bomb shelters etc. This film brings it all to life. I loved it. Ethel though seems a bit dim at times, but Ernest is a real salt of the earth chap. 

2016 RIP

Last post of year. Yesterday's papers featured this terrific montage by Chris Barker, a graphic artist, showing 2016's casualties in a brilliant pastiche of Peter Blake's SGT PEPPER's iconic album cover. I am sure they won't mind my posting it here so more can see it. Below, with additions Liz Smith, George Michael, Carrie Fisher ...

Love & Friendship

A delicious end of year treat is Whit Stillman's LOVE & FRIENDSHIP, a quite popular movie this year, and is on several end of year best lists. It is based on a rare Jane Austen novella "Lady Susan" and exceeds all expections of Austen costume dramas.

Set in the 1790s, Love and Friendship centers on beautiful widow Lady Susan Vernon, who has come to the estate of her in-laws to wait out colorful rumors about her dalliances circulating through polite society. Whilst there, she decides to secure a husband for herself and her rather reluctant debutante daughter.

Like in those other Austens smart women in those days had to secure a rich husband and a position in society. How Lady Susan manages it is deftly handled here and offers Kate Beckinsale her best role ever which she grabs with both hands, 

The film looks great, the supporting cast glitters (Chloe Sevigny, Stephen Fry, Tom Bennett), it was filmed in Ireland, and is a fun, briskly-paced romp through those country house settings. We are now looking forward to Stillman's earlier THE LAST DAYS OF DISCO, also with Beckinsale. 

End of year ...

The new "award season" will soon be underway, with a lot of prestige titles jostling for inclusion. As ever we have to wait a while for the interesting new releases here .... at least Tom Ford's NOCTURNAL ANIMALS was well-received and should be a major contender.

We have to wait until January for LA LA LAND, February for MOONLIGHT, March for Verhoeven's ELLE with that stunning Isabelle Huppert performance ...

Meanwhile, I have LOVE & FRIENDSHIP, THE NEON DEMON, THEO & HUGO, and an interesting new Irish movie SING STREET to see and relish ... Bond and The Beatles too, as we have finally seen SKYFALL and SPECTRE, and EIGHT DAYS A WEEK. 

Reviews coming up, including another French rarity MALE HUNT (LA CHASSE A HOMME) an all-star 1964 item, with only Belmondo, Brialy, Deneuve & Dorleac, Laforet, Presle etc. 

Not bad for December, now for all those end-of-year reviews ... Of the Sight & Sound Top 20 of 2016, http://www.bfi.org.uk/best-films-2016
I have only heard of half of them, most of them have not opened here yet until next year, and Hollywood mainstream movies are mainly absent (apart from LA LA LAND and MOONLIGHT, if they are considered mainstream). 

Plan B

Many thanks to Colin for this treat.

Bruno is dumped by his girlfriend; behind a calm, indifferent expression, his mind plans a cold, sweet vengeance. She, a modern girl, keeps on seeing him once in a while, but has another boyfriend, Pablo. Bruno becomes Pablo's friend, with the idea of eroding the couple, maybe introducing him to another woman. But, along the way, the possibility of a plan B arises, a more effective one, which will put his own sexuality into question.

Set in Buenos Aires, this witty beguiling 2009 feature by Argentine-born director Marco Berger masquerades as a romantic comedy, only to confound expectations by testing its boundaries of gender. The film invites us to explore contemporary ideas of freedom and desire, and to question what it means to play with love and bisexuality. PLAN B is Berger’s first feature film and was presented at the London BFI Gay & Lesbian Film Festival and then taken on tour.

This is a charming gay-tinged Latin American film, following on from DONA HERLINDA AND HER SON in 1975 from Mexico, or Cuaron's  Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN, and Peru’s UNDERCURRENT (reviews at gay interest label), and the Canadian CLOUDBURST. 
The initial problem is that the guys are not the usual good-looking stereotypes of gay movies, they both look scruffy, if not scuzzy, to our eyes now – all that hair and beards, but as we get to know them this does not matter and we really being to root for them to discuss their feelings, which happens in that blissful final scene. We liked it a lot.  There is no actual sex, we just see the guys on sleepovers getting more familiar with each other, as the girlfriend is still there, seeing them both separately.

Then they finally come together.

The BFI said: “A beautifully shot reflection on male foibles and friendships …. Grounded in two outstanding performances by Manuel Vignau and Lucas Ferraro that avoid empty rhetoric and easy clichés”.