I saw this film at the BFI Flare LGBTQ+ festival earlier today and was blown away. Quite simply, it is superb filmmaking at the very highest level, with extraordinarily subtle performances from the two leads.
Director Marco Berger presents the story of a love affair in a series of uninflected, mostly static shots, letting the camera linger on characters' faces as they register attraction, desire, frustration, jealousy and love.
In less skilled hands it could easily be boring or pretentious, but instead it's riveting ... and at times achingly painful.
Both lead actors - Gastón Re playing Gabriel and Alfonso Barón as Juan - are outstanding, as it the girl playing Gabriel's daughter. Gastón Re, in particular, deserves to win multiple awards for his beautifully judged performance. Largely wordless, he brings to life the inner life of the shy, yearning Gabriel so fully that I felt I'd known him for years.
If you were affected by Brokeback Mountain or God's Own Country then you will surely appreciate this film. Beyond that, if you admire the work of Ingmar Bergman or Wong Kar-wai or Pawel Pawlikowski then you should go out of your way to see this superb Argentinian film.
Review of The Blonde One
