This is your typical indie coming-of-age tale about a teenager, though it’s clearly working with a very tiny budget. Set within a migrant family living in Southern California’s Coachella Valley, the movie digs into how fragile old-school traditions and expectations can be. We follow a teenage son as he goes through the process of coming out and struggles to find acceptance while dealing with homophobia, domestic abuse, and a messy love triangle that involves his own sister. Goyo is seventeen and just about to graduate from high school. Since he’s been a bit more feminine since he was a little kid, he’s always had to deal with emotional and physical transition from his dad, Ramon, who is obsessed with him being "a man." The only real love he gets is from a lady next door who actually respects him for who he is. The family lives in a Mexican community where everyone works on a grape farm, but things get shaken up when a new guy named Lucio arrives. Lucio basically seduces Goyo ...
This movie was a sort of road-rip movie. Hitchhiking, walking, on road, running etc to their destination, the principal characters take us through their journey. A film of very few words, the film is shot beautifully but it could definitely had been better. The writing of the film left a lot to be desired. The director spends way too much time showing the boys walking down a road, walking through a forest, walking through a field, walking and more walking. A little bit is ok but when it becomes to the extent of self obsession, that harms a film.
Antoine and Quentin, twin brothers and both young, stubborn and determined. They want to hitchhike to their mother's funeral in Spain. Antoine finds occasional pleasure in girls but Quentin keeps himself busy in his drawings. The hardships of this trip starts to take a toll on the already strained relationship of the brothers but they both agree to working in a farm the necessary days to pay for a train ticket to Spain. One night, Quentin finds in the fields a young man that looks very interested in him. They go skinny dipping and afterwards they have sex in the middle of the woods. Antoine, worried about his brother's absence goes out looking for him and finds him naked with the other boy. Antoine cannot bear to accept the fact that his brother could be gay. Angry, mad and disgusted he betrays his brother. in a cafe, when a man shows some interest in Antoine, he offers Quentin to him for 100 euros. Quentin tries to save himself and run. When Antoine returns and only thing he sees is his brother's backpack, he realizes of the mistake that he did. He looks for his brother and continues his hike and ultimately reaches his mother's funeral with the guilt in his heart that his brother might also be dead.
There was little character development during the entire film. The series of events that occurred during their journey, mostly sex with strangers didn't have any real purpose to them. The ending is furious and rushed, and it seems like it was thrown in there as a last ditch effort to create tension. Only good thing about the film was the directors attempt to show that even though they were twins , they did not have anything else in common apart from their physical structure. Although the director shows lack of communication, loneliness and true desperation using with strong images, beautiful visuals and almost zero dialogues, the films fails to hold your attention unless you are a very very patient man.
This film is more for "art film" lovers. I used to think I am but I am starting to question now :). (4.5/10)
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