NEW AUTEURS: JOAO PEDRO RODRIGUES’ OUTLAWS OF DESIRE at TIFF Cinematheque from tonight (Thursday, June 23). See listings. Rating: NNNN
The mainstreaming of LGBT culture doesn’t mean queer filmmakers are suddenly devoid of material. Portuguese director João Pedro Rodrigues is an assured artist who’s finding startling ways to explore identity, sexuality and obsession.
The provocative mid-career filmmaker is getting a mini-retrospective of features and shorts in TIFF Cinematheque’s New Auteurs series to coincide with the first-run release of his 2009 feature To Die Like A Man.
Rodrigues burst onto the festival circuit with his confident 2000 debut feature, O Fantasma (Thursday, June 23, 6:30 pm rating: NNNN). The untrained actor Ricardo Meneses plays Sérgio, a young, affectless garbageman who travels Lisbon at night picking up trash and having the occasional anonymous gay sexual encounter.
When a hunky motorcyclist (Andre Barbosa) on his route spurns his advances, he becomes obsessed with the man and his machine, fetishizing both an old pair of Speedos from his garbage and (in a particularly striking scene) humping the man’s bike.
Rodrigues trained as a scientist, and he displays an almost clinical curiosity about human behaviour. The nearly wordless film has the feel of an erotic dream, complete with some symbols – handcuffs, black and white canines – that feel part of your subconscious.
The director’s second feature, 2005’s Two Drifters (Saturday, June 25, 5 pm rating: NNNN), deals with sexual obsession again – but with a bit more passion. After a young gay man dies in a car accident, his neighbour Odete (Ana Cristina de Oliveira), who never met him, becomes convinced she’s carrying his child, while his lover, Rui (Nuno Gil) spirals downward until he finds out what Odete’s been up to.
The touches of melodrama recall Douglas Sirk, and the title comes from the song Moon River, but the mordant humour and frank sexuality are all very contemporary.
Rodrigues’s latest, To Die Like A Man (from Friday, June 24 rating: NNN), played TIFF in 2009 and gets three screenings this week. In some ways it’s less accessible than the others – the leisurely pace could be a problem – but the director’s certainly not repeating himself.
Tonia (Fernando Santos) is a middle-aged drag performer who’s been living as a woman with her junkie boyfriend Rosário (Alexander David), who wants her to transition to become a woman. Complicating matters are Tonia’s son, who’s AWOL from a military post, a particularly bitchy drag colleague and a health issue that forces the characters to confront their mortality.
This time the symbols – stray dogs, a fishbowl – are a little too on the nose, but Rodrigues imbues the film with a powerful sense of mystery and spirituality that’s not as prevalent in the earlier films.
A big chunk of the final section takes place in a forest, which the director captures with a bit of fairy tale wonder.
The experiment isn’t a total success, but I can’t wait to see what Rodrigues comes up with next.
glenns@nowtoronto.com
