As a film it is perfect. Each image holds a visual interest, and the use of Bowie and Eno's ' Heroes ' lifts the film to a higher level at the end despite the fact that what went before largely fails. So where for me is the fault ? For all its beauty the casting was wrong. Wagner Moura does not convince as being a man sexually attracted to his partner played by Clemens Schick. But without too many spoilers the story is about a Brazilian lifeguard ( Moura ) who fails to save a life and has a relationship with the dead man's companion ( Schick ). I perceived hardly any connection at all between them, and the sexuality also failed to convince. The film is in three parts, the first set on Futuro Beach and the following two parts in Berlin, where the lovers attempt to continue their relationship, but when Moura's young brother appears events lead to the climax of the film. The young brother is played by Jesuita Barbosa and his presence on screen is electric, at last bringing the film to a strong and vivid sense of life. The scenario helps him, but he gives a lot to make the film breathe, despite the fact that most of the action throughout is set brilliantly against seascapes and architecture ( the former East Berlin is exceptionally good. ) Antonioni could not have done better, and a little like Antonioni there is a void in the film. With the Italian director it was often painful to watch but here it seems to be decorative. The void is of course the lack of connection between people, and in ' Futuro Beach ' it seemed to come from a lack of conviction between the two lovers. Love by the way is never mentioned and this too added to the void. And also I was disappointed by the use of gay cliched images often used in ' Gay ' films. The obsession for shower scenes, and for brief views of male genitals as if they had to be there. In some films the penis adds to the passion in a film, but coy images of the penis in this film did not. Apparently an oral sex scene was cut for distribution. It was not missed, and only the younger brother in a sexual scene with a woman seemed truthful and honest, and had a sense of urgency in it. I am not going into Brazil's shock at seeing one of their favourite actors as a gay man, but the director should have known that and considering the actor was only moderately convincing with his broody, hangdog look should have chosen someone less known. Gay/Queer film works at its best when the actors are not weighed down with a heterosexual following. That is my opinion which others may well reject, but there are actors out there like Felix Maritaud who kind of prove my point. But a justified seven for the beauty of the images and the real sense of place. It took a heterosexual character to wake me up. In a ' Gay ' film ?
