Liz in September

The Venezuelan film Liz en Septiembre was shown in the U.S. with the title Liz in September (2014). It was written and directed by Fina Torres.

The film stars Patricia Velasquez as Liz--a lesbian supermodel who comes to a beach resort to celebrate her birthday. All of her friends, as well as the proprietor of the hotel, are lesbians.

By happenstance, a straight woman arrives at the hotel, and becomes the object of attention from everyone. Liz bets that she can seduce the outsider within a short time, and then sets about to do just that. As you might expect, there are problems ahead for Liz and the straight woman. The problems surface slowly--they are brought to our attention little by little.

The setting of the movie is so beautiful--as are all the actors--that the tragic moments of the film are hard to accept. The straight/lesbian situation isn't the problem. However, problems are there, and this makes the film a tragicomedy.

This is a powerful and beautiful movie. I highly recommend it. We saw it on the large screen as part of ImageOut, the excellent Rochester LGBTQ Film Festival. It won't work as well on a small screen, because some of the tropical beauty will be lost. Still, it's a great movie, and I suggest that you see it in any format that's available.