Director JC Calciano must be an expert in web relationships. This is his second film about the comings and goings of gay couples with the internet as a catalyst for their problems.
The subject has already been addressed in E-Cupid: Amor em Download, which, by the way, manages to be inferior to this lighter and less pretentious comedy. In Is it Just Me, It playfully addresses the follies of two insecure gay men who are looking for something more than the casual sex that chat rooms offer.
Based on the narrative structure of comedies of errors, Is It Just Me presents us with the life of Blaine (Nicholas Downs), a boy who is insecure in relationships and who does not feel included in the gay mainstream of nightclubs, where muscular bodies are more interesting than intellect and good conversation. A newspaper columnist, he portrays the daily lives of people like him with sarcasm, something in the style of Carrie Bradshaw, protagonist of the series Sex and The City.
On one of these nights of searching, he meets Xander (David Loren), a beautiful and muscular boy, who manages to tie the two ends between physical beauty and great intellect. Just like Blaine, Xander is looking for something more. The two arrange a meeting, but Blaine soon discovers that he was using Cameron's (Adam Huss) computer, appearing on Xander's screen with his friend's photo. Insecure, he will arrange a meeting accompanied by Cameron and from there a lot of confusion will arise, until the two are able, or not, to meet again and realize all the love they have.
The encounters and disagreements of love seem like themes that will continue to be explored in cinematographic and television fiction for a long time. The paradox has been around for some time and still makes many fictional plots possible. Bringing it to reality, why are there so many people alone looking for a nice partner? Why can't these people meet? Is promiscuity a prerogative of homosexuals or just a stereotyped speech by frustrated heterosexuals or homosexuals? These questions are not directly raised in the story, but are raised by a viewer more attentive to the theme portrayed.
Thanks to JC Calciano's competent direction, the "outs" that Blaine takes during much of the film are well choreographed in scenes, the actors are average and the gay stereotypes appear more softened. By also taking over the script, Calciano explores the classic narrative structure, with the protagonists being accompanied by the picaro elements (the friend Cameron) and the mentor (elderly counselor, Xander's roommate).
Going beyond the basic lines, the script includes a certain dose of metalanguage, as it explores the world of writers, who, according to one of the characters, are prophetic when they are alone writing and pathetic when they become ordinary people. By flirting with metalanguage, the script also plays with the art of staging, by saying that the actors lie all the time, in a sophisticated allusion, even reminding us of the breaking of the fourth wall proposed by Brecht, when the film proposes to say, even if quickly and without depth, “I am art”.
Regarding technique, casting director Mark Sikes chose the comedy's actors well, all of whom were average and suitable for their respective roles. The art direction, signed by Noah C Haewssner, is competent, organizing the places where the characters circulate, as well as the editing by Cynthia Ludwig, neat and dynamic.
A good idea for the production is to maintain the necessary running time for this type of story, after all, more than the 90 minutes of Is It Just Me would make the experience tedious and uninteresting.
Rating: 07 – Available on the Intercine Gay portal for download
*Leonardo Campos writes biweekly in this space about cinema and DVD releases. He is a researcher in cinema, literature and culture at the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA) and professor of literature.
