Everything I Like

Something I've always liked about a lot of Argentine, Brazilian, Spanish and other Hispanic cine productions is their attitudes to homosexuality, specifically in relation to gay men.

A gay Mexican friend of mine assures me that Latino society is just as ignorant, bigoted, homophobic and prone to hate crimes as USA, UK and much of western Europe, and nearly all of Eastern Europe, and that any kindness and acceptance is something that happens only on-screen and not in real life. I can't speak from experience, - I've never been there, this is just what I've been told.

I find it perverse that heterosexual men are so traumatised by any visible affection between two of their own gender that they try to eradicate even the very idea, and make such men suffer and make them understand that it will only lead to sadness, pain and death. There's something really unhealthy about that constantly hostile, interfering and overwhelming negativity.

Such negativity has thankfully been predominantly absent from much of Gay-oriented cine originating from Latin-American countries and Spain for a very long time.

Sadly, however, it seems that even in places like Argentina, big money is starting to take more of an interest in grasping more of the pink peso, pink dollar or pink pound and bigger names are starting to muscle in... and, predictably are starting to push that same old message we've been getting for decades from the heterosexual studios of Hollywood and its clones... the message that homosexuality is wrong/of the Devil and going to lead to unhappiness, unrequited love, probably HIV+AIDS etc etc etc.

It's all a little tiresome, and anyone who's gay and been around a while has heard it all before.

Esteban Masturini, who was amazing as Jéronimo in the movie, Esteros, is here, this time as Javier, the cameraman, though he has a very different role to play, despite initial appearances, from his earlier role as Jéronimo. Expect it.

I've lately taken to researching any gay cine producion I'm considering buying in advance of watching it, to verify whether it will have a happy ending or not because so much content which is called a "romance" in hetero cinema always does, and almost ALL gay romance always does not.

With cine, it's about 90% straight romances have happy endings and 90% of gay romances have unhappy endings in my experience.

This disparity makes me angry and sad. I no longer pay money out of my pocket to be made sad and angry all over again.

Gay men are humans; and, like all humans, we like to be happy sometimes too... and not always a target.

So, finally, to talk about this show.... I watched on a free to air streaming service with adverts. I was going to pay money for it on disc, but for reasons mentioned above, I will not.

Synopsis: Daniel is a pretty average, generally all-round nice guy who has a middle seniority role in a small advertising agency, working with a small group of eccentrics, and having regular sex with a rather domineering woman that he works with.

He is fully aware that is also somewhat attracted to men but has never acted on this side of his sexuality.

A new, handsome and alluring cameramen, Javier, gets hired and there is something of an instant spark between them.

Thoughts on the show: The acting of the majority of the cast is a bit average to be honest although Milton Rosés as Daniel is really good and absolutely excellent, giving this central role great depth, making him entirely understandable and believable.

Esteban Masturini (Javier) is very seductive but not given the depth of character, or script lines, or screen time, to work with as when he was Jéro in Esteros. Piter, though not particularly likeable, is well played though the credits info here doesn't specify who the actor is, and the guy playing Mario played a very kind and understanding best mate.

I think part of the problem is that presumably budget constraints meant that this needed to be made in "bite-size snippets of a life" format - each of the eight episodes barely running to even twenty minutes, including credits.

They didn't have a lot of time to squeeze in what they did, so despite the somewhat middling script, scant script lines and limited plot I think they did ok.

The entire plot was simplistic and could be summarised, in depth, in just a few short sentences, and as such I won't touch on the plot any further because there's so little of it, almost any details could be spoilers.

The camerawork was very good and catching the glances between guys at significant moments was excellently done. The trip location was beautiful and it would have been highly desireable to have seen much more of it, and the time there to have been expanded.

There is no nudity, though Esteban Masturini does briefly flash some very sexy underwear.

It would appear that The Bonsai Kid love stories of 'Esteros' were a legitimate criticism of such a Jéro as made it to this show.

If you like Esteban Masturini in this, definitely worth watching Esteros which is a sweet film and is much better, more though provoking, and kinder, than this.

I've rated it 7 star but I feel it really deserves no more than 6.5. There is much more they could have done with this cast, some of whom are really good actors, and the script - specifically the actual plot, could have been better. I don't think it could be considered a spoiler to say simply that the ending is bittersweet, and wasn't neccesary. You will need to watch the show to find out how it plays out.

It did make me feel less charitable towards the Scriptwriter, Editor, Director and even towards Dekkoo who produced and released it... an apparently Gay-friendly streaming company I HAD been considering taking out a subscription with.

Overall, nothing special. I don't feel like my life or understandings were enriched or enhanced in any way by this show - it was kind of 'meh!". It portrayed a young man coming to terms with his non-hetero sexuality in quite a sweet fashion and it was nice to see Esteban Masturini again. Also I will definitely be checking out other stuff with Milton Rosés as he was really good.

Afterword:

There is so much unhappiness in the gay world, there are terrible things happing with the climate, looming massive extinctions, depletion of the oceans, wars in Gaza, Ukraine and elsewhere, terrible diseases destroying lives, hunger, persecution, misery.

The world is not such a nice place to anyone any more.

It would NICE if an escape into the fictional world of cine, espcially gay cine, for those who wish to partake of it, could be a more generally happy experience.

Perhaps companies who produce such gay movie and TV content could kindly appreciate that a constant diet of cineastic misery is going to lead to people hitting the power button on their remotes and firing up music or a video game instead.