notmicro

This movie is 90% two guys alone in the same hotel room, and boy do they talk - before sex, during sex, after sex, and when alone. And not infrequently, the talk abruptly stops a hot sexual encounter dead "mid-lay". And wow do they drink a lot of alcohol, its kind of horrifying. Some things that I learned are: 1) turn off the ringer on your mobile phone; 2) lock the damn door so that Housekeeping doesn't barge in!! and 3) Viagra works in less than 2 minutes. There is even an introductory primer included on how to prepare yourself for penetrative sex. They think of everything!

The problem with what's called a "tw0-hander" in showbiz is that it requires very deft writing and expert acting to pull off successfully. This entry has very uneven writing and acting, its kind of all over the place.

As best I can tell - and I could be wrong - the lead actor Mark Cirillo is an extremely experienced straight actor, while his counterpart Scott Sell is an extremely inexperienced gay guy. This seems kind of an odd combination, and I wonder how the film maker made this choice.

When hunky forest ranger Drew first walks amnesiac house-guest Mark into his home's living room, my reaction was YIKES, NO gay man would live with a room as plain as that, no matter how rural the setting.

Despite everything - the awkward script and gaping plot-holes, amateur acting, cheesy grainy camera-work, clumsy direction - I love this movie's deeply-felt compassion and heart, longing for connection and commitment - and steamy intimate love-making scenes. Towards the end of the story, there are several amusing and light twists revealing what's actually been going on with Mark, and something ironic that only Drew knew about him.

I like that both actors are actually gay here, it makes for an interesting energy. Personally I think that actor Aaron Orr is one of the naturally better-looking guys that I've seen on the screen, especially when he keeps whipping his shirt off. However this is the only feature that he ever made; after this he completely disappears. Both he and busy Matthew Montgomery have some presence on various social media.

I've been thinking that finding out how a potential boyfriend / partner reacts to both this film, and the gay masterpiece "Shelter" (2007), would be a very interesting way to test for compatibility.

Film maker Marco Berger has woven a magical near-perfect experience that works it's way under your skin. It's very unusual, and it took a couple of days for the subtle, hypnotic impact to sink in; I've returned to it again and again. It develops slowly and deliberately, with lots of silence, lots of looks, glances, stares. For the last 17 minutes, there is no dialog at all.

I love how their often non-verbal interaction gradually becomes increasingly physical over the summer as time goes on, touching each other's body casually for various reasons, which gets progressively erotic. When Martín smiles, he lights up the whole screen. But poor Martin becomes increasingly confused and frustrated, badly wanting to take the relationship to the next level; while cerebral Eugenio for some strange inexplicable reason isn't ready to go there - until he is confronted with what he is missing, has to deal with how he's actually feeling, and is finally prodded to act.

I get a chuckle from the brief scene where Eugenio's older brother makes a flying visit, and teases him mercilessly about a possible future scenario where he takes Martin back to Buenos Aires to live with him, gets him a construction job, and is ready with dinner when he comes home in the evening. And I think to myself "yeah actually that sounds pretty great".

My only issue with this film is that the two actors are straight. In my personal experience this gives a COMPLETELY different atmosphere than if they were gay or bi. The actors are unaffected, it kicks up the testosterone level, and amps up the level of fantasy wish-fulfillment for gay male viewers. I'm not objecting to this exactly, I think its hot; it's just that it isn't quite true to life. My prime example of this would be the legendary U.S. masterpiece "Shelter" (2007). Compare this to the recent very fun erotically-charged 17-minute short "It's Still Your Bed" (2019), where the 2 hot young gay actors deftly portray the subtle jockeying that goes on when two not-quite-openly-gay guys are thrown together, and try to figure out if a hook up is possible. I'm not saying that it's better or worse; just different.