Hard Paint

It starts off mysterious, leaving everything between the lines, the slow pace, the lack of understanding of the protagonist's actions, but the voluptuous development leads us to tear our souls apart with so much pain from prejudice in the speeches, actions, looks, and to think that these boys fight every day for survival, such a sad reality, it takes place in the South, very pertinent, excellent production, a great pearl...

"Have you been going out? At your age it's good, because otherwise when you get old you won't have anything to remember."

Set in the city of Porto Alegre, in the south of Brazil, the film focuses on a socially repressed young man who only comes out of his shell during chat room presentations, when he takes off his clothes and rubs neon paint on his body.

His acting is the axis of a bitter- melancholic film about loneliness, exhibition as only form of fake happiness and real sense of life, about friendless, pragmaticism and tough choices, about different levels of ambiguity. A not comfortable film, familiar story in many aspects, it have the virtue to propose a bizarre character - Pedro- reminding a dandy , a Gothic character, a fragile ephebus, a sort of Manierism image and the androgenity. Short, Shico Menegat is the lead motif to see this story from Porto Aleggre.

Pedro is socially awkward and friendless, and has been kicked out of school and faces criminal charges for attacking a schoolmate who bullied him. HIs sister gets a job transfer to the far side of Brazil, leaving him to pay the rent on their shared apartment - and the fine for noise from sister's farewell party.

Pedro has been making money off weekly internet shows, where as Neonboy he strips down and fondles himself with glow-in-the-dark paints. He finds that Boy25 (Leo) has been copying his technique, and finds him to warn him off. A one-night-only duet is popular and becomes regular, and they fall in love. With this parents dead or missing, Pedro is desperate enough to ask Leo to be his "family support" when he goes to court. But Leo is a dancer who is looking for a scholarship to study with / join a better company elsewhere.

I saw this at the Inside Out festival, where the directors stated the theme is people leaving - in a smaller city, many people leave for opportunities in larger cities or abroad. Overall the movie is good, though there are parts that have overly dramatic effects.

In our present lifestyle for those who have been in quarantine for two months: webcam, social media and online entertainment like streaming films have been popularized.

"Tints Bruta" in its duration of 1hr. and 58min, drama, 2018 (Brazil) plus set in Brazil's city of Porto Alegre was directed/written by Filipe Matzembacher and Marcio Reolon. In 2018, they both received a Teddy Award, as part of the Berlin International Film Festival for the Best LGTBQIA+ film entry (and in that same year was screened at the Chicago International Film Festival).

It focuses on an anti-social Gen Zer, Pedro helmed beautifully by Shico Menegat. This gender fluid character type, almost can personify our present situation, living in a self-imposed quarantine. He only interacts with people virtually creating erotic performances with neon body paint. His online presence is "Neon Boy" and constantly online with a webcam and social media. Throughout these virtual performances he meets Leo, a contemporary dancer helmed by Bruno Fernandes.

Though his newly found relationship, he gets to meet other gender fluid and Queer creative types (Millennial and mostly Gen Z-aged). This film gives a fresh look and insight into Brazilian LGTBQIA+ communities (Afro-Brazilian, homohobia, Lesbian, Trans, etc.) and goes beyond Latin American cinematic tropes on present LGBTQIA+ life. It also "creepily" can relate to today's needed social distancing imagery: performances include wearing facial masks, Pedro's only 5 minute social activities, etc..

This is worth the look!