Ti guardo

'Desde Allá' (From Afar) slowly and carefully brings you into the world of Armando, a wealthy loner who spends his free time coercing Caracas street gang youths to go back to his apartment so he can enjoy their company while pleasuring himself. He finds Elder, another street youth, who he runs into trouble with at first, but eventually end up bonding to the point that their relationship becomes physical.

In terms of both Armando and Elder's chemistry, it's nothing to rave on about. Because they are such opposites, it's easy to see how they clash, but that's as far as it goes. It's more of a strange encounter because they are such different people, especially Elder, who starts off the film as being vehemently homophobic but oddly changes after some time with a very limited showing of affection and care.

The film, which recently won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, goes about its storytelling by long tracking shots or stationary frames that have a lot happening inside of them. Very little dialogue is exchanged, but looks and actions speak louder than words in this picture. While it keeps the suspense a bit on the up, others might want consistent dialogue, which this film doesn't have.

The film should be praised for several things: talking about a taboo subject in a country like Venezuela, and showing the issues that are happening in the country, which includes the long lineups for basic necessities and consistent criminal activity.

Without writing spoilers, what really makes this film is the ending. It's fairly open- ended, and it's a bit shocking to say the least. During the TIFF Q&A, Directory Lorenzo Vigas was rather inquisitive of the audience, trying to find out what they thought the ending was about. Not all films should provide the necessary answers for the viewer, but good films allow for interaction and further interpretation.

On a further note, this film was NOT selected by Venezuela as its Best Foreign Film selection for the upcoming Academy Awards. I'm not sure if this has to do with the topic. I haven't seen the actual selection 'Gone with the River' (Lo que lleva el río), so I can't comment. However, it seems odd that this film, which is showing at several world film festivals, and was in competition for the Golden Lion — and won — was NOT Venezuela's official selection.

The vulnerable victim of a voyeuristic sexual predator (who is likely a former victim himself) tries to "fix him" and fails dramatically.

While technically good and masterfully acted, this movie tells us a bleak story that's not necessarily interesting or especially meaningful. It's a good retelling of a tale of human misery, make of this what you will.

I want to start of by saying this movie has the best production value I've seen in a venezuelan movie, cinematography and sound were great.

The story however I feel it's lacking, it is quite uneventful, one hour into it I was like, ok it's been an hour and nothing has happened yet.

Armando was extremely one dimensional, and I didn't understand why he spoke like that, it was very weird and unnatural. His actions and Elder's dont make sense.

It could have been great but it suffers from the same problem so many venezuelan and foreign movies have, nothing really happens.

I have seen this film twice; once a few years ago and now again recently. I am torn between giving it a good review or a not so good review and decided on the latter. The film in itself is well made, and Lorenzo Vigas clearly decided not to give it music, and in so doing avoids audience manipulation, and psychologically we are often left in the dark about the two protagonist's motivations. So far so good, and anyone who knows film history both Antonioni and Bresson come to mind. Here again I admire the film for its ambiguity and to confront a troubled relationship between a street hustler ( played excellently by Luis Silva ) and an older man played neutrally and well by Alfredo Castro. We are told very little in the film about the truth of both their pasts and this again I can go along with. A savage and brutal relationship develops between them, and their sexual contact is as hard as the physical violence between them. In the conventional sense there is no ' love ' between them, but a need bordering on dependence on the youth's side and darker motivations on the older man's side. The terrible ending is hard to watch, and in a way that I cannot understand the film seems to endorse the homophobia that it appears to attack. In no way is it a positive film about homosexuality, and this troubled me as it comes from a country that needs to understand homosexuality more than it does. However well made it is, it is so full of hatred towards others and the inner selves of the two main characters that I had to reach the conclusion that it is a negative, and repulsive film. The conclusion is a construct as all films are. A decision made by writers and a director and it offers absolutely no hope at all. It is my personal right to dislike this construct and turn my back on the film. It is not enough to make a film that is well made; but a film that is heartless and cruel in intent towards the natural state of homosexuality repulses me. Pessimistic in the extreme it serves no purpose in our troubled society.

This film is one of the best productions made in Latin America have seen in recent years. It shows clearly the loneliness and abandonment leading to attitudes often repulsive. The highly original narrative takes us to a completely unexpected outcome. In this aspect the film has a highly original narrative, nothing the usual story of an old man paying to have sex with a young man. Abandonment, loneliness, violence. The sad fact of everyday life. Excellent actors and an excellent pace of narrative to the end. The film even deserved all the awards he received. A masterpiece. I can not understand the criticism as negative other commentators. It's an intimate film with enormous human content. For those who live in Latin America like me it is clear that the director knows the violent environment of cities like Caracas. Great movie.