Gabriel moves into the spare room in his coworker Juan's apartment. Juan wastes time with his idiotic friends. Juan plays around with his girlfriend. Juan plays around with Gabriel.
Blondhaired Gabriel, the man of the title, barely says a word, maintains a blank look and hardly moves throughout the entire film. Juan doesn't say much either; his dialogue consists mainly of "Do you want a beer?" and "Let's get something to eat." But at least he smiles once in a while. Gabriel is a block of wood, with no personality whatsoever.
He lies on his bed reading.
He sits on the couch watching TV.
He rides a train.
He works in a wood shop.
These little slices of nothing, repeated over and over, seem to comprise most of the running time of the film. They'd be fine as counterpoint to actual drama but in between, nothing much happens. Gabriel rarely speaks more than a word and shows no emotion at all, ever. During the sex scenes he's completely passive, practically motionless, and adamantly stonefaced. I don't even think he's breathing hard - if he's breathing at all.
The wood shop scenes are something of a metaphor for the entire film. Gabriel and Juan drill holes in little pieces of wood, and cut them into smaller pieces. There's no finished product, no indication of what they're building, no sense that there's any point to their work. And if the filmmaker is using this to represent something beyond his own poor storytelling skills, there isn't any hint of that either.
It seems we're intended to infer (because he sure won't say it out loud) that Gabriel wants a relationship, and Juan is a jerk because he doesn't. But wait... it's clear from start to finish that Gabriel is staying with Juan only until his mother gets her spare room ready, at which point he'll move in with mom and his young daughter in another town. If he stays with Juan he'll be abandoning his daughter. If he lures Juan into a romance and then leaves... well, who's the jerk now?
All of these subtleties are left to the viewer to figure out, because the guys just plain don't talk about it. Or about anything.
I like artsy films. I like atmospheric films. I even like bleak films, if that bleakness is meant to convey something. In this case, there just doesn't seem to be any underlying philosophy. There's only a filmmaker trying to copy an artsy style without understanding why it worked for someone else.
Communication is the key to a successful relationship. It's also the key to good filmmaking. Unfortunately, there ain't any of that around here.
Blondhaired Gabriel, the man of the title, barely says a word, maintains a blank look and hardly moves throughout the entire film. Juan doesn't say much either; his dialogue consists mainly of "Do you want a beer?" and "Let's get something to eat." But at least he smiles once in a while. Gabriel is a block of wood, with no personality whatsoever.
He lies on his bed reading.
He sits on the couch watching TV.
He rides a train.
He works in a wood shop.
These little slices of nothing, repeated over and over, seem to comprise most of the running time of the film. They'd be fine as counterpoint to actual drama but in between, nothing much happens. Gabriel rarely speaks more than a word and shows no emotion at all, ever. During the sex scenes he's completely passive, practically motionless, and adamantly stonefaced. I don't even think he's breathing hard - if he's breathing at all.
The wood shop scenes are something of a metaphor for the entire film. Gabriel and Juan drill holes in little pieces of wood, and cut them into smaller pieces. There's no finished product, no indication of what they're building, no sense that there's any point to their work. And if the filmmaker is using this to represent something beyond his own poor storytelling skills, there isn't any hint of that either.
It seems we're intended to infer (because he sure won't say it out loud) that Gabriel wants a relationship, and Juan is a jerk because he doesn't. But wait... it's clear from start to finish that Gabriel is staying with Juan only until his mother gets her spare room ready, at which point he'll move in with mom and his young daughter in another town. If he stays with Juan he'll be abandoning his daughter. If he lures Juan into a romance and then leaves... well, who's the jerk now?
All of these subtleties are left to the viewer to figure out, because the guys just plain don't talk about it. Or about anything.
I like artsy films. I like atmospheric films. I even like bleak films, if that bleakness is meant to convey something. In this case, there just doesn't seem to be any underlying philosophy. There's only a filmmaker trying to copy an artsy style without understanding why it worked for someone else.
Communication is the key to a successful relationship. It's also the key to good filmmaking. Unfortunately, there ain't any of that around here.