Les agitateurs

A new Marco Berger film is always an occasion so I sat down yesterday evening to treat myself to what I hoped would be an event. I needn't have bothered with the little saucissons, cherry tomatoes and box of chocolates beside me - what was presented on screen was crass and uninteresting.

We were regaled to a veritable eyefest of horny, attractive, semi-naked or naked hunks on screen for 100 minutes. Yes, for those who find lads like this attractive, this was eye candy to the extreme. But what they were doing was neither credible nor interesting. The whole time, apart from when some girlfriends turned up, was spent getting into homosexual positions, pretend humping of each other, dares that random guys would snog each other with tongues, taking photos of each others willies. Yes, yes, straight guys muck around but this was relentless. It's not crédible at all.

A previous reviewer has alleged that this particular film at least has a plot, unlike previous films from this director. My assessment is that the film is virtually plotless unlike several of the more recent films he made. There were little things happening but never followed through on, such as the probable rape of one of the girls. And there was the theme of the two closeted guys (one of whom rejects reality) amongst the multitude of alleged straights which was so barely touched upon that the first time we see them making out, it's impossible to discern who one of them is. This plot line is the one that leads to an act of violence that is not explored further in the film and to whose build-up is not plausible.

OK, I watched it all. Apart from drinking in the bodies on display, I was waiting for something consequential to come about. It didn't, not even at the end.

I'd marked this as a four. Reading back on my review, I've reduced it to a three. Watch if you like, but with very low expectations.

Usually I like Marco Berger's films, especially the ones where there are just a few characters, and the story is about the subtle, sexual tension between two guys (like "Hawaii" or "The Blond One"); these are often extremely slow-paced, with sparse dialogue and an almost dreamy atmosphere. In this "Horseplay" however the atmosphere is everything but dreamy: a large group of loud, basically heterosexual guys gathers in a sun drenched villa for the holidays, doing nothing but yelling and boozing and bickering and fooling around; the latter for some reason constantly in the vein of imitating gay situations (riding each others back, touching and fondling, walking around naked) and then roaring with laughter about it. Hence probably the English title "Horseplay".

The original Spanish title "Agitadores" means by the way something slightly different: "troublemakers", so apparently Berger intended not so much to picture careless playfulness, but a deliberate stirring of the emotions. Such an intention could have resulted in an interesting movie, maybe if there had been fewer characters and longer, more serious dialogues and interchanges. But now the whole movie is made up by very short bits of conversations, with only vague hints of interesting topics, all ending as blank as they are started and leading nowhere. Sure, there are some innuendo's of greater issues: homophobia, machismo, promiscuity, fear of coming out as gay, but they never come to anything conclusive and stay dangling in mid-air, overblown by all the juvenile pranks and tiresome fooling around. There is, as usual in a Berger movie, lots of naked male skin to enjoy (if you're into that, and I humbly plead guilty), but that doesn't help making it a good movie. In fact it impressed me at many times as redundant and just added to titillate or provoke the viewers.

So summing up all the above: a disappointing experiece.

Seen at BFI Flare in London (wonderful festival!)

Quite a let down. Inevitable comparisons to Taekwondo, but whereas that film succeeded because of the development of the characters and the building of tension between them, this failed. The narrative is s-l-o-w, yet (with one exception) the relationships between the characters aren't properly explored, even though there is plenty of time for that.

The ending is unexpected, but lacks impact because the audience doesn't feel anything for the characters involved.

Sure the.guys are hot, and the photography lovely - with those slow drawing shots on male bodies. But the whole film felt like it had been created from pieces off Taekwondo's cutting floor.

The eye candy is fantastic! However there was no movement in the plot in the first 90% of the film. Random talking, silly conversations that go nowhere. Need to do more character development and movement of the plot line. The last 5 minutes were the best, and many of the actors have potential to show their depth, such as in the ending, but the entire movie was overrun by useless conversation of a bunch of tough guys. These are honestly talented actors, and some are extremely good looking, but need to show more one-on-one interactions, thoughts, feelings etc. They are there but in very minute quantities.

Horseplay is just a remake of Taekwondo, but with more nudity and homoerotic moments. There are identifiable themes emerging from the horsing around, but none of these were explored. Therefore, it leaves the film lacking in substance. I believe the person who made Taekwondo is responsible for Horseply, so I am at a loss as to why they would make a similar film without building the characters or explore the hinted themes to build a narrative that is relateable and teachabe! To be honest, I have seen adult films with better plots. So watch for the eye-candies and not for the storyline because one doesn't exist.