Love, Simon (2018)

Director: Greg Berlanti

Stars: Nick Robinson, Jennifer Garner, Josh Duhamel...

Genres: Comedy, Drama, Romance

Country: USA

Summary: Simon Spier keeps a huge secret from his family, his friends and all of his classmates: he's gay. When that secret is threatened, Simon must face everyone and come to terms with his identity.

As I'm thinking about all the movies I've seen in the past years in order to review them all by memory, I thought this movie was a couple years older, like 2017 but now I see it's from 2018... Guess it didn't leave that much of an impression on me then, huh.

I am one of the people who read the book first. And I read it so long ago that I barely even remember anything about it except for the characters' fascination with Oreo cookies (if I remember correctly, that was a thing right?). I am not a big fan of YA literature. I used to like it a lot before when I was younger, but I guess I just outgrew it. The story was cute and it's always so nice to see a positive LGBT movie, focusing on happy endings etc. So it's great that exactly this kind of movie was picked up by a major Hollywood studio. It's one of the most popular LGBT movies now. So many people have heard about this and I think a lot of the kids will really love this movie as it brings hope to a lot of them and it makes people feel good after watching, it has that heartwarming feel to it.

Still, I have to say that I felt it (both the book and the movie) to be a bit too sugarcoated for my taste. I know, I know, I'm hard to please. I don't like sad and tragic LGBT movies that deal with real problems and now I also say this is sugarcoated, but listen - this is not exactly a criticism per se. A lot of people like these kind of movies, including me too, but I don't know for some reason I just couldn't identify with this film. I consider myself a Millennial and I think I'm a bit more old-school about movies, music and aesthetic. Somehow I feel that mostly Gen Z kids will identify with this movie and its aesthetic more - from the fashion, relationship between characters, the way of life. Maybe it's just typical Hollywood aesthetic. In that case I wasn't used to Hollywood aesthetic being applied to LGBT movies.

Anyhow, it's not bad. It's a cute movie, but it was so hyped that I might have expected something more. I've seen better gay movies than this one. Still, I definitely support positive films like this and I hope more gay movies get promoted to the big market for more people to know about them.

Fin de siglo (2019)

English title: End of the Century

Director: Lucio Castro 

Stars: Juan Barberini, Ramon Pujol, Mía Maestro

Genre: Drama, Romance

Country: Argentina

Summary: Two men meet in Barcelona and after spending a day together they realize that they have already met twenty years ago.

This was a weird movie. It starts with Ocho (the main character) traveling alone, sightseeing, touring the city, going to a beach... On a beach he encounters a guy and they have some eye-contact, are interested in each other, but nothing happens. Ocho returns back to his apartment and goes out on his balcony only to find the guy from the beach strolling by his apartment. He invites him up and they have sex. It happens so casually. I keep wondering how far away from that kind of interaction I am in my own life, to invite someone to my apartment just like that and be so relaxed with a stranger... That's strange to me.

After talking for a bit, they exchange numbers, hug and it's all pretty cute. Later they go out together and start talking about their lives. Ocho is recently single and enjoying his alone time traveling the world... Maybe it's supposed to portray a sense of freedom and liberation, but to me it just seemed very lonely and isolating, very common for a figure of a 21st century man, I would say. Javi (the other guy) is in an open marriage as he says, the couple even adopted a baby. And then we find an interesting information: they already met before some 20 years ago. The thing I kept thinking after they showed how they met: how could anyone possibly forget an encounter like that? Javi remember Ocho, but Ocho doesn't remember Javi. I wasn't buying it.

Then in the end we have an alternate timeline showing us Ocho and Javi as a couple having a baby. I have no idea what was that supposed to mean. Is it really an alternate universe, like a fairy tale ending of them and what they could have achieved together? Or is it actually connected to other two timelines present... The thing that popped into my mind was: maybe it was them all along. Maybe they became a couple, married and eventually their relationship got boring so they wanted to reinvent their meeting and initiate new sparks so they split up for a while and then met again at the very place they first met and role played some new lives they could've lead so that they could fall in love again? I know it probably sounds stupid, but it just popped into my mind as I watched the movie and I wanted to write it down.

I didn't expect this movie to be so complex. The different (and possibly alternate) timelines were pretty confusing.

Un rubio (2019)

English title: The Blonde One

Director: Marco Berger

Stars: Gaston Re, Alfonso Barón...

Genres: Drama, Romance

Country: Argentina

Summary: In the suburbs of Buenos Aires, Gabriel has just moved in with his colleague, Juan. Shy and reserved, Gabo is reluctant to follow Juan's wandering hands and meaningful looks. With a revolving door of beauties streaming out of Juan's bedroom, his machismo seems firmly in place. However, the attraction between the two men is undeniable. What starts out as a sexual relationship based on convenience of location, soon develops into the engrossing evolution of a tender and intimate relationship, which is as sweet as it is heartbreaking.

Damn, this was a hot movie. From the subtle scenes to the full sex, it's all great! But it's not just sexy, it has a great story too and a great performance by actors. I think they had great chemistry together. Gabo (the blonde one) is more shy and passive, while Juan is more dominant and physically darker so they balance each other out nicely.

One guy on the forums I read said he was annoyed at how passive Gabo was as he didn't want to take initiative in anything, but I wasn't annoyed by it at all. I think he was very cute like that and that is one of the reasons why I think they had such good chemistry. Or maybe he's just my type of a guy... :P

At some points I felt sorry for Gabo because Juan was treating him badly (just ignoring him for some time as he couldn't process his feelings in the beginning after they first slept together) and he was just waiting for him to come to his senses like a puppy all the time. But I wouldn't say he wasn't determined. Gabo was ready for a relationship with him. He left his girlfriend and he even has a child from a previous heterosexual relationship, so in the end I think he was even braver and showed more courage than the superficially dominant Juan who just couldn't leave his straight-acting life behind and take a risk leaping into the unknown. Too bad for him because I think they could've had a great time together. They certainly did have chemistry and everything that I said before, but that's life. Maybe some better things are waiting for them in the future (or worse ones, but I choose to be an optimist).

Also, I really liked the ending because it was really heartwarming to me how his daughter naturally accepted the fact he was in a relationship with a man after he admits everything to her. That's a beautiful scene and a great ending to an otherwise great movie. I definitely recommend this to everyone. I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did.