DESDE ALLÀ (2015) Lorenzo Vargas

Seen in Venice 72

Winner of the Golden Lion Venice 72

This film left no one indifferent: thunderous applause in the theater and constant chatter in the bars surrounding the theaters of the Venice Film Festival. Even for this surprising engagement alone, the film hit the mark. A great direction for a story that didn't convince me, and I'll say this right away.

What many who appreciated it considered a minor flaw, for me was fundamental: the story has too many flaws. To me, it's impossible that a straight man, a Pasolinian street kid who makes a living fighting, stealing, and beatings, could fall in love with a man in his sixties in the space of a few weeks. And even kiss him passionately. It's too sudden a love that undermines the value of this story based on a sort of redemption for the boy.

Armando, a mature man living in Caracas, works in a dental practice. He leads a dull life and has frequent, fleeting sexual encounters with young boys, demanding only that they undress in front of him. He gets aroused by watching them, but no affection or exchange of bodily fluids. He has a terrible relationship with his father— who has just returned to the city —but the reason for this hatred is never explained ( from the numerous photos of his mother he keeps at home, one might assume he had a special relationship with her and that her father made her suffer, but it's just a hunch ). In one of his usual enticements, he meets Elder, a young man barely out of his teens ( a good actor ) who leads a disjointed life, a typical character in cinema, especially gay cinema, because he's also typical in the real world of the streets and metropolises, especially in the global south. Their relationship slowly evolves thanks to Armando's generosity, which goes from paying for sexual services to taking care of Elder's life, eventually caring for him and taking him in after a beating that left him near death. The ending escalates this bond and leads to a conclusion that, unfortunately, I had already imagined halfway through the film.

Vigas' direction is sensational, with excellent photography, close-ups of desperate faces that underline the film's narrative ( the entire cast is excellent ), but I still think that the story doesn't work. There are plenty of similar and much more credible stories, especially Virgen de los sicarios , presented in Venice about twenty years ago and in which the relationship, even if explored in depth, always remained realistically commodified.

From Allá is a film that has divided people ( not only because of the “boos” in the press room when it was announced that it had won the Golden Lion, which happens systematically every year ) and has made people talk about it, and this can only be positive.