El perfecto David

Interesting movie with an original plot. It reminded me of the French movie Vivre me tue as it focuses on bodybuilding as a way of life. On another level, it can be compared with My little princess because it confronts a child with an artistic and abusive mother.

The pace of the movie is slow and maybe not explicit enough, but it is the subtle portrait of a teenager who is not sure about who he is and what he desires. Are you your body and do you have a body?

My favorite scene is the mirror scene. It's all about the fragmentation of the self.

A cold mother who made her son as a physical muse for her artwork is the theme of this movie. The use of the blue filter on most of the scenes made for a cold sad atmosphere throughout the movie. You never see any of the characters exhibit joy. The mother's obsession towards her son as a piece of artwork by having him build his physique as that of the statue of David verges into the sensual. But that wasn't pushed enough by the creators. The movie about the "Perfect David" should be retitled, "The Perfect Upper Body of David", for you don't see much of the lower body of the main character. And in this the movie had failed. The sensuality could had been explored more.

I have seen this film once, and I will see it many more times. It is a work of art in itself; not a scene is wasted and although some may find repetition after repetition of physical training to perfect a male human body boring there are nuances in them that add layers to the process. The injections, the pill taking and the gruelling daily process to attain this is as moving as it is horrific. The film is drained of excessive colour, and the human contacts the youth endures to please his mother are cold, ruthless and even among his peers at school perverse. The youth played superbly by Mauricio Di Yorio tries to form attachments, fails in his attempt to get an erection with a female student and only achieves sexual satisfaction by watching pornography. His mother treats him like a distant lover moulding his flesh to her own use, but no spoilers as to why. Without giving away the ending I want to add that is played to choral music by Franz Schubert and is heart breaking to watch and to hear. A masterpiece that I can see has not been seen as such, and I hope that one day it will be acknowledged as such.

Muscles, bare chests and bodybuilding does not a gay movie make, and it seems like the people responsible for this film forgot to actually add a gay element to this film to qualify it as one. It's amazing how so many men and bare chests, butts and bodies were present in this film yet not a single kiss was exchanged, no romance, no actual physical contact between anyone. Well, except for the devouring mother admiring her own son as if he were her husband, but that's not what this movie was supposed to be about, was it?

At best this movie can be classified as a drama about a toxic mother that is using her son as a pet project. She forces and pushes him to a breaking point, that the movie could have easily reworked as a horror movie about mothers who do more damage to their sons than good. We have entire real-life prisons devoted for the subject, why not make a movie about THAT?

When I say that this film is not LGBT, I mean it. I went in thinking it would at least have a connection between two bodybuilders, the coach, heck even a classmate. We didn't get any of that. What we did get was a healthy dose of toxic femininity, coupled with a bunch of half naked dudes posing for a little over an hour, and an ending that literally made me say, "WTF?" out loud. Thank the universe that this movie was only that long, for it had been longer, I most assuredly would have turned it off around that same mark.

If you're looking for muscular dudes finding love or even discovering their sexuality, this is not the movie for you. If you're looking to see young (and older) muscular dudes posing and talking about bodybuilding, I suggest you visit social media instead. There is way more LGBT content on there than you could ever find in this film.

3 stars for the acting, as it was superb, from everyone involved.