Corpo Elétrico

There is not a lot of plot in this smart and attractive movie. The people work in a garment factory. They hang out. The hero is a supervisor there and has friends from work and his own neighborhood. One theme is the mixing of work and one's social life. Our guy mixes. He is warned that this is not a good thing for his professional future but he likes people and is not about to give up his personal life for some business norm. The title is from Whitman. Most of the characters are gay but that is less the point than seeing one man's journey through early adulthood and seeing the choices he makes. The cast is very attractive and the erotic quotient rates very high. Very sexy. More great gay themed films are coming from South America. This would be one of them.

That's all the film is. It's about the lives of a group of guys and girls who work in a garment-making factory, some straight and some gay. The central character is an attractive gay man who has several relationships on the go and has one-night-stands whenever possible. He also has an ambiguous relationship with an older rich guy.

His immediate boss gives him a great deal of responsibility in his work and he seems to enjoy his job but he is easily distracted, something noticed by the big boss who advises him to tone down relationships with the workers as he is supervisory staff.

The film shows several relationships that are developing or established amongst his friends. One nice touch is how virtually all of the crowd accepts the gay contingent.

There's no plot at all. It's just a progression through several lives and events leading up to and during Xmas and New Year. Some might think this is pointless and have said so in their reviews but I found it fascinating and refreshing.

No one can say this film is a cliché - most people complain that "gay" films end up in tragedy. This ends as the film has proceeded, as it might in real life, just carrying on as it has to that point. There can't be a "resolution", as some reviewers are complaining, as there is no plot as such.

It's a different type of film and I liked it.

This film follows the daily life of Elias, a young and attractive gay man. He lives in Sao Paulo and works as an assistant designer in a textile factory. During his free time, he enjoys going out with friends and having sex with other boys. The acting is good, but the story lacks consistency. So I got bored after an hour.

If the world, our actions in it, our ambitions, and our friendly encounters amuse you, you will likely love this movie. The acting is incredibly fluid, the cinematography great, the characters real. But, as some have pointed out, the plot, it exists at all, is existential. It is about a talented, directionless fellow in Brownian motion with other talented directionless people, living their lives in very amusing ways. I am a 50-ish American, saw this film in Mumbai with a 50-ish Indian buddy, and we both laughed throughout, recognizing ourselves and our zanny friends everywhere. Albert Camus and Salvador Dali, I think, would have loved it. Tom Cruze, not so much.

Body Electric is hypnotic to the point of somnolence. It gazes at the life of a young gay man, seemingly aimless as he floats through the working day, which then blends into late nights of sex and parties. Many of the scenes feel improvised, which give the film an edgy and authentic feel. However, overall it's very repetitive with little plot or character development. You'll need to care about the protagonist to keep engaged. And if you don't, the whole thing may put you to sleep.