Director dos Santos takes us through the beautifully common streets of Patagonia (Argentina) alongside three teenagers, where none is a genius, a serial killer or has an issue other than being a teenager living, as the Spanish title points out, in the middle of nowhere.
Nahuel Pérez Biscayart stars in a powerful performance as Lucas, a 15-year-old boy eager for a first sexual encounter, while surviving teen boredom hanging out with his best friend Nacho (Nahuel Viale) and quiet pal Andrea (Inés Efron, XXY), in whom he soon discovers the possibility of pleasure, unaware she's every bit a hormone clock-ticking bomb as he is. In their company he escapes a day at a time from what he perceives is his alienated family (a mother who teaches English in the morning, fights her husband's lover in the evening and screams at the man at night, only to forgive the following day and go out camping).
The fact that no dialogue was ever written in the script (a less than 20 pages long document) is a strong plus, considering all lead actors speak what they really think about being teens and feeling unimportant toward the world around them, which, in a very rare way results in accidental poetry, where no love or roses are cited. They want what every viewer once wanted, when being fifteen, and ask themselves the questions we all asked ourselves when we were young and restless. They remind us of that beauty we tend to ignore in our every day lives; the uniqueness of what our ordinary lives were.
Another fine side to the film is the carefully set soundtrack, which fits in perfect unison with Natasha Braier's cinematography and Lucas's wannabe singer aspirations, as well with the many silent minutes where one would think Glue is about to turn into a silent movie only to be pleasantly surprised by one of the character's sometimes groggy, sometimes wishful voices.
Some may wrongly consider Glue as gay cinema, since it has been shown at several gay film festivals. But the movie is not gay-oriented, nor does it have to do anything about being gay in Latin America. The movie is about being an adolescent and the feeling of being one, of knowing and not knowing what you really want and who you are. What this characters do is not exactly what we all did at our own times, or still do, for every person has a different story to tell, a different party to talk about, a different kiss to remember, but it captures the essence and wonders of teenagers today with bravura and honesty. As the US trailer says, it's not about the experience, but experiences. And watching Glue has been an exhilarating one.
tthomas
