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 ...
Choreographer Chris is suffering from AIDS and is waiting on his death bed. Chris has decided to end his life via a doctor-assisted suicide, and film covers his last moments with his lover, Val. They eat a final meal together and reminisce about happier times. He surrounds himself in his last hours with everything that made his life special and creates his ultimate work of art by choreographing his own death.
What's shocking for me to hear is that the lead actor who plays Chris died from AIDS-related causes four days after shooting wrapped on this film. I guess this was supposed to be his swan song and a tribute of sorts. To be honest, I would have been a bit harsh in reviewing the film, but just information changes everything. It's not an easy film to watch, mostly because not much happens and is more like watching a play where sometimes it's a lot of silence. Shot in dark contrast where you can barely figure out what's happening in dark light, I can see why some people will have a special place in heart for this film. (2/10)
Comments
I have loved some of his films while totally hated the others