Vento Seco

I gave this film a ten-star rating because it deserves, at least, an 8! I love it when a film which is targeted to a mature audience delivers on its promise, and this film accomplishes this perfectly.

Yes, there are graphic sex scenes and nudity of beautiful men, but at no time did if fall into a porn-flick. And anyone who argues otherwise does not know what is porn.

The cinematography, the background sounds, music, and the arrangement of the scenes are enough to keep your mind focus that this is a serious film about love, identity, fear, a clash of cross-generational perspectives of acceptance of one's homosexuality, among other issues. Ricardo, who appears younger is ready to commit and declare to the world his love for Sandro. But Sandro is stuck in the era when gays navigate the underworld even when in plain sight.

The film is almost 2 hours long but it felt shorter than some Shorts I've watched. This is another indication of how brilliant this film is. The plot was well-developed and easy to follow. The actors played their role confidently. I was very impressed by Renata Carvalho's performance. She did an exceptional job in the supporting role.

There is so much more to be said about this film, but I will end by saying that this will be one of my favorite gay-themed films ever, and I hope there will be more daring and satisfying films like this one in the near future.

Expectation: bad-scripted softcore porn

Reality: stunning visual, decent story, good actings, sex/nudity scenes more sensual than porn

This movie came as a surprise and I quite like it!

I wasn't sure what to expect from this film. I ended up being very impressed. Certainly a lot to think about as it unrolls.

Technically, the film is so well done. The cinematography is beautiful. Excellent and impressive use of the camera to bring us into Sandro's life and world.

A single gay man, caught (or luxuriating?) in sexual fantasies about the men around him. He lives a mundane, routine life, but constantly indulges in fantasies and trysts to satisfy his sexual side.

But being of a generation where gay sex was a more hidden pleasure, he separates his daily life from his sexual needs and fantasies. And the film seems to suggest that he is a slave to his fantasies - as many of his fantasies involve leather sex and subjugation.

He has a romantic side too, that blends well with his purely sexual fantasies. I thought this was so beautifully displayed in the scene on the Loop ride at the livestock fair. The scene is SO beautiful that I had to go back and watch it again. And it still haunts me days later.

There are disturbing scenes, where the central character, Sandro, becomes angry and vindictive. But the insight into his inner turmoil is so acute in those scenes.

The juxtaposition of real and fantasy - the outside world and the inner workings of this man's mind - is wonderfully conveyed, if at times a little confusing.

Acting is top notch throughout the film on everyone's part.

The sex scenes are so real and nicely done. They are integrated neatly into the story and film, and while they are hot to watch, I would not consider them porn, but rather, insight into the characters - and the time and place.

There's an old adage that 'who you are is where you were, when.' Sandro is a product of his era, and Ricardo is a product of a more open and progressive time. And therein lies the tension of this story.

Basically a one-character film: a dumpy-looking middle-aged bear who scores above his attractiveness rating and is obsessed with sleazy erotic dreams (which are quite imaginatively filmed, if not quite on the level of, say, Fassbinder's *Querelle* in terms of color and lighting). Oh, and his jealousies.

The rest of the characters are seriously underdeveloped and not terribly interesting except perhaps for the female coworker who turns 40.

The oral sex looks to be very real, but the director cops out on the anal. I would've found it more honest if all the sex were either hinted at, or all of it genuine.

As far as the natural scenery is concerned, good lord has rampant capitalism made a wasteland out of Brazil.

The closet is a dangerous and horrible place to be trapped in, especially if it leads to betrayal and fear. The hour and fifty minutes of this film flashed by while I watched Sandro's actual life and his fantasy life and desires which were warped by secrecy and concealment.

The plot outline on IMDB tells us of his hidden affair with gorgeous Ricardo. One might imagine their secret trysts to be furtive and brief, but the guys have a more than vanilla time of it. In fact, some of their actions are downright debauched. Their liaisons seem not to be simulated for the filming either. They were doing stuff beyond the call of duty of most actors.

When we peer into Sandro's fantasy life, we enter a world of leather and vice. Unless there were some very clever prostheses being used, nothing in these sequences was simulated.

Enter the new hunk Maicon. Flirting, jealousy, denunciations, a complete upturning of lives. The main characters realised what they had had and what they could lose and had lost. I hoped against hope for the ending I wanted to be in the film.

I groaned to myself when I started watching as I realised how long the runtime was. I needn't have bothered. I wasn't bored for an instant. I honestly thought my review would say "this should have been 25 minutes shorter". It was, however, just the right length.