Daniel Manhães strikes again with another good short film talking about some experiences from the LGBT community. This time he moves from the issues revolving
couples and goes to analyze the dating/hookup apps and the experiences that comes from those. As usual with the director/writer/actor he goes for the downer side of
things, making valid and real criticisms which allows audiences to compare with their own personal experiences as app users or to enlighten those who are outside of
such reality, or prefer old-fashioned encounters.
He plays a lonely guy wanting to have a good casual encounter with another
guy and he sort of gets what he wants, with Tupã (Geovanni Timbó), of whom we discover had seen the man outside of the app since they're neighbors - but the other
never noticed his presence. From the get-go, it's a recipe to disaster since the director's character is a little picky with everything but he accepts the other guy's
invitation for a dinner at his home.
The film shows each men's inner thoughts during their awkward interaction with one guy just complaining about everything (the man's looks, his apartment, and
so on) and the other just lusting after his crush. It's a tough challenge on viewers just desperate to see if anything good will come after all the pain and cringe
moments.
It might be a hard punch on many people out there since the main goal is to show about the superficiality of sexual encounters and how many things don't go
exactly in the way one wants or desires because the human element goes a lot deeper than just a sexy profile pic and some cute/positive/hot descriptions, and there's
always the element of surprise and frsutration can hit hard. It's not a total tragedy, it walks a thin line between some strange humor and cringe situations in the
awkwardness of it all.
Manhães finally stretches out in not playing the good/romantic guy as he did in his other short films, this time he manages to play a shallow and obnoxious
guy for a change and it was tough dealing with the character's thoughts here (but it was a very realistic portrayal of a superficial type where the face tries to hide
the real emotion behind). For the first time, he's using of some humor to compose his scenario and he succeeds it.
Good stuff but it's one of those movies where you won't walk feeling all too good about people, potential dates or similar scenarios. You'll be very critical
of everything afterwards. 8/10.