Esteros

Esteros (2016) is an Argentinian film directed by Papu Curotto. It stars Ignacio Rogers as Matías, who formerly lived in Argentina, but left when his family moved to Brazil. Ten years later, he returns for a visit to Argentina with his Brazilian girlfriend. He meets his boyhood friend Jerónimo (Esteban Masturini), and there's obviously still a bond between them.

Matías and his girlfriend aren't happy. She's beautiful, sophisticated, buoyant, and fun-loving. He's dour and hates noise and crowds. He and Jerónimo are much better matched in temperament.

However, Matías is well educated and successful as a biologist. (Director Curotto suggests that Matías is doing research on GMO plants.) Jerónimo studied filmmaking, but he's drifting along making FX models, and doing makeup for party goers.

The men return to Jerónimo's home, near an estuary. The city is surrounding the region, but Jerónimo's parents want to preserve the area and keep it in its natural state.

In any case, the men have returned to the spot where they had been many times before, except that now they are ten years older.

This is an very good movie. The acting is well done, the plot makes sense, and the estuary truly is beautiful.

We saw this film at the excellent Little Theatre, as part of ImageOut, the wonderful Rochester LGBT film festival. It will work better on the large screen, because of the beautiful scenery of the estuary. However, it will work well enough on a small screen as well.

This is one of 22 movies at ImageOut that had their New York State or East Coast premiere at the Image Out festival. My compliments to the festival Programming Committee.

What's interesting about Esteros is how little surprises there are. The film plays out almost exactly as one would expect, its flashback structure isn't particularly innovative and the conflict isn't particularly tense either. And yet, I am in love with this film.

Esteros plays largely like a fan-fiction - and not in a bad way either. Childhood friends with an intimate friendship, grow apart with time only to reunite years later unexpectedly to rekindle their friendship and something more.

The film rests entirely on the intimate relationship between between Matias and Jero - and for good reason too. The chemistry between the two leads is palpable - there is a sense of age to their relationship dynamic, that when they interact for the first time in years it feels awkward and tepid, as if they were relearning how to be around each other. It's those small details that lend an honesty and a truth to the relationship - so that when they kiss for the first time, the film has been building immensely towards it.

It is Esteros' devotion to the small emotional details that make it so emotionally satisfying. While not groundbreaking by any means, its gentleness and sweetness are infectious, and it's always nice to see a queer-themed film that wants its characters to get the happy ending they deserve.

Two childhood friends loose each other with time and are reunited by chance. There was a close bond between the two young boys. On their reunion as adults, the love is still there. As they go back to the old homestead where they once played, the now adults know what real love is and the one that moved away as a child is willing to give up a beautiful woman and a financially comfortable job for the love of his life that he had never stopped loving. Reviewers say that they were separated by their parents who noticed the boys were too close but this is not the case. The father of the boy who moved away, simply accepted a job in Buenos Aires. This is sweet, not coming of age story, but a story of when one half of a heart is reunited with its counterpart after years of separation.

A nice, positive coming-to-terms film. I have to admit that I didn't find the movie all that engaging. I can't say why exactly because it wasn't boring, per se, and I certainly didn't want the usual stereotypical conflicts that tend to crop up in these kinds of films. I actually appreciate that though the storyline isn't a new one, it wasn't stacked with unnecessary drama and didn't drag out the will they/won't they aspect, though that is in large part due to the fact that the film takes place over a few days with flashbacks to when the characters were younger to fill in the pieces. In essence, the real development takes place when they're young and they pick up where they left off when they reunite as adults.

The scenery is lovely and the actors certainly have chemistry. Jero is especially captivating, both the younger and older actors are excellent. Perhaps that's where the dissonance is for me as I didn't find adult Mati all that interesting. Still, a decent enough film amidst the usual drivel. Definitely not a bad way to spend 90 minutes.

This is the story of Matias and Geronimo who were childhood friends and summered together at the farm of Jeronimo's down in the estuaries hence the title. Then Matias's father takes a job in Brazil just as the two boys were beginning to understand their sexual desires and identities.

Then the story moves up to the present day when after many years of separation they meet again but Matias now has a girlfriend and his life seems to have been mapped out for him. The problem is that the feelings both have long held resurface once they are reunited and there will be ructions for all.

Now this is not a ground breaking film both in terms of plot or presentation. It is a small story and has been called clichéd by some. However, it does have a certain charm and the actors are all very good, the bedroom antics are tasteful too and it all hangs together well. It is not great drama or aiming to advance the cause of gay lib but it is just a simple story about life, love and choices and as such I found it to be well worth a watch.