Two feature films premiere today and give a boost to the lukewarm climate that hangs over gay cultural life in São Paulo. They are the American Shortbus, by John Cameron Mitchel, and the Argentine French La León, by Santiago Otheguy.
While the first abuses and uses explicit sex scenes and talks about young people and their adventures in an underground club, the second dives into the lonely life of a young man who lives from fishing and cutting sugar cane on an island in Argentina. .
Alvaro, the young homosexual protagonist of La León, played by actor Jorge Roman, lives isolated from the people who live where he lives. The only connection between his home and the city is a taxi boat called La León.
Shortbus is orgiastic. Although it was shown two years ago, at the 30th São Paulo Film Festival, the film was released with great repercussion in the local media, despite its delay. The production intertwines stories and characters that, in common, have sex as the cause and solution to their problems.
In the film, Shortbus is an underground alternative swing club. The plot is full of characters, gay sex and shows a scene of autofellatio. That's exactly what you read, the boy tries to perform oral sex on himself. The highlight of the plot is the gay couple who experience a crisis in their relationship, resolved with the presence of a third element.
