UN RUBIO (LE COLOCATAIRE)

Marco Berger 2019 Argentina Germany Brazil Spain 108min Spanish s-t-f.
Synopsis:
Juan (Alfonso Barón) is mercurial and aloof, used to getting what and who he wants. Gabriel (Gastón Re), the titular “blonde one,” is shyer in his stoicism, his perpetual cowlicks and worried eyes underscoring his boyish demeanour. When the two co-workers become roommates, covert looks and mixed signals abound, the two engaging in a delicate dance, neither wanting to exhibit vulnerability first. Juan may flaunt his nakedness and deliberate touches, but it’s otherwise innocuous scenes like the two standing next to one another on crowded trains that truly drip with stealthy sensuality. Complicating the heated situation are girlfriends, a social stew of homophobic beliefs and tacitly accepted promiscuity, and Gabriel’s daughter, a talkative second grader, who he visits twice a week at his mother’s. Despite these hurdles, the two men find themselves, inch by inch, drawing closer to one another. And closer. With the slow burn of Un rubio, writer-director Marco Berger proves himself a master of tension, unwinding with precision Gabriel’s mutual attraction with Juan and his awakening to his own self-worth. Forcing Gabriel to ask himself: what do I deserve?