X
- 2023
- Unrated
- MUBI
- 1 h 49 m
- 2023
- Unrated
- MUBI
- 1 h 49 m
Summary After encountering social media celebrity Jordan Firstman at a gay nudist beach, Sebastián Silva reluctantly agrees to direct his new project. But when Sebastián goes missing, Jordan embarks on a wild, quasi-detective journey through Mexico City.
Written By: Sebastián Silva, Pedro Peirano
- 2023
- Unrated
- MUBI
- 1 h 49 m
- 2023
- Unrated
- MUBI
- 1 h 49 m
Rotting in the Sun
70
7.1
Where to Watch
Summary After encountering social media celebrity Jordan Firstman at a gay nudist beach, Sebastián Silva reluctantly agrees to direct his new project. But when Sebastián goes missing, Jordan embarks on a wild, quasi-detective journey through Mexico City.
Written By: Sebastián Silva, Pedro Peirano
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 17 Critic Reviews
70
82% Positive
14 Reviews
14 Reviews
18% Mixed
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 17 Critic Reviews
70
82% Positive
14 Reviews
14 Reviews
18% Mixed
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
That Silva achieves to both criticize the overuse of online personas (particularly in the white gay world) while becoming a piece meant to be meme-d and TikTok-ed into oblivion is truly remarkable.
It’s a film which sets up a lot of easy targets, but shifts its aim at the last second to take on – and bullseye – a whole lot of hard ones.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 12 User Ratings
7.1
67% Positive
8 Ratings
8 Ratings
25% Mixed
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
8% Negative
1 Rating
1 Rating
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 12 User Ratings
7.1
67% Positive
8 Ratings
8 Ratings
25% Mixed
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
8% Negative
1 Rating
1 Rating
A entrega de Sebástian é tão visceral, que todas as cenas em que ele não aparecem soam marcadas pela falta. Ao retratar o homem **** em sua multiplicidade, para o bem e para o mal, com direito a muitas cenas explícitas de nu frontal, filosofia, drogas, falta de perspectiva ou mesmo a relação sempre ambígua com as redes sociais, "Rotting in the sun" passa a figurar num grupo de filmes que não trata a identidade LGBTQUIAP+ de forma fechada, mas inserindo-a num contexto de efervescência de nossa decadência moral.
É como se estivéssemos saturados de um mundo **** colorido, e ao transportá-lo a um mundo muito mais cinza (o filme já começa com uma citação niilista), o personagem ganhasse contornos muito mais humanos e universais. Sébs, um homem ****, é também um homem angustiado, sem perspectiva, por mais que seja um diretor reconhecido. É um homem do século XXI.
Mas o filme ganha muitas camadas após o primeiro ato, que afinal é o coração da trama. Embora a qualidade decaia levemente ao sair do ponto de inflexão mais reflexivo para um onde a ação e a disposição dos corpos vai ganhando vida, ao menos é interessante ver como cada um vai lidando com as cenas: seu amigo **** que vive da efemeridade das redes, a empregada de olhar sempre cansado e explorado, o amigo hétero insensível com quem Sébs divide o apartamento.... Todos, de uma maneira ou de outra, em busca de uma imagem que jogam para fora o encontro com o outro, todos pedidos em seus universos particulares.
A graça do filme também reside em detalhes irônicos, como o comportamento da polícia, por exemplo, que parece meio infantil ou deslocada das necessidades reais do envolvidos. Gostei do tempo discernido à crítica da redes sociais, embora talvez esperasse ver mais da repercussão que os posts faziam nas redes.
Anda assim, é um retrato perturbador de como estamos nos tornando seres humanos muito mais próximos a objetos decorativos, vivendo de prazeres carnais e entorpecentes, sem sentido. Abre-se uma gama muito grandes de temas aqui, da depressão e do vazio existencial ao uso de rogas lícitas e ilícitas.
É interessante também perceber quanto o nosso destino nos escapa, e é irônico. Por diversas vezes o personagem de Sébs flerta com a morte, em diversas formas: ao falar de suicídio e minutos após tentar se salvar; Sébs tenta salvar Jordan do afogamento, ao mesmo tempo em que um telefonema de Jordan porá Sébs em alto risco, involuntariamente; o tema do homicídio, mesmo que o suicídio esteja sempre à espreita. Ou seja, os fins dependem muito dos meios, não é a morte que se almeja por si, mas todo uma forma de fazê-la aparecer, como se ainda importássemos o roteiro.
E assim vemos cada personagem entrecruzando-se em seus respectivos mundos, e o como a trama vai ganhando contornos macabros. Ao final, uma necessidade imensa da verdade, de deixar clara as intenções, os fatos, pois se por um lado a imagem é aquilo que nos apresenta ao mundo, ainda resta um "eu", consciente, presente em nossos remorsos, ao menos.
Filme para ver e rever, e obrigatório para quem já sentiu uma sensação de vazio e, por mais drogas, sexo, mídias e liberdade que tenha, se sente numa redoma cada vez mais fortificada.
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It takes a shock to the system to draw honesty out of an influencer, and Rotting in the Sun is absolutely a shocker. But rooting himself in the fabrication-friendly space of social media leads Silva, and his film, toward an earnestness that outmatches even his best work to date.
At once an excoriating satire of the performativity of homosexuality within a social media-addled community as well as a seemingly earnest lament for the total loss of collectivity, the film minces neither words nor bodily appendages.
With its tricky tone and its wildly ambitious themes, it’s not surprising to find Silva’s outrageous, salacious film stumbling as it brings its many threads into focus. Like Sebastián’s art and his journal in the film, Rotting in the Sun remains a patchwork of quotes and ideas and provocations hastily if hilariously stitched together.
It’s a dark, deadpan comedy that isn’t really funny, but whose premise is the the quintessence of “permission to laugh.”
Silva has taken experiences from his own life for “Rotting in the Sun” in an attempt to dramatize or satirize things about the current culture that he hates, but his hate is so all-consuming yet so strangely mild that he misses most of the targets he is aiming for.
This feels as if 'Mainstream' and 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas' had a child in Latin America.'Rotting in the Sun' is a fun mystery comedy that puts a fresh spin on the **** approach. The metafiction deployed here is witty and inspired.Chilean director Sebastián Silva pours his most personal concerns into a highly original film that subverts expectations. When you think the plot is heading in one direction, the script takes you by surprise and leads the narrative to an unexpected place, even changing the spotlight to another character.What begins as an exploration of hedonism within the **** world suddenly becomes a satire incorporating intrigue and drama in equal measure. The less you know about the plot, the more invested you will be watching it. Silva works wonders with influencer Jordan Firstman; together, playing alternate versions of themselves (the unexpected and toxic relationship between an artist and a social media celebrity), they comment on mental health, the anxiety caused by the Internet, classism, and art. It is a complete work that captures you from the beginning with an intelligently constructed script, full of moments as bizarre as they are shocking.
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When an overwrought, angst-ridden, drug addicted filmmaker (Sebastián Silva playing a fictional version of himself) unexpectedly meets a wacky, unhinged comedian/social media influencer (Jordan Firstman playing a fictional version of himself) at a **** Mexican beach resort, the troubled director does all he can to distance himself from his new acquaintance when he becomes interminably annoying, especially in his incessant, unfocused pitches for collaborating on a new movie project. But, when the financially strapped filmmaker returns to his home in Mexico City, he reluctantly relents on the comic’s offer when all his other production proposals are turned down by would-be backers. He thus invites his new writing partner to come stay with him while they hammer out the script, but, upon his collaborator’s arrival, he finds the director has mysteriously disappeared. What ensues is a humorous **** comedy-mystery in which clues about the disappearance slowly emerge. At the same time, however, the story also delves into some surprisingly mature and insightful themes, developments very much in contrast to the film’s screwball narrative and its somewhat manic opening act. Writer-director Silva’s latest thus presents viewers with an intriguing combination of plot elements that one might think shouldn’t belong in the same picture but that work surprisingly well together. While it’s true that the ending seems somewhat abrupt and that some segments run on a little too long (particularly in the first half-hour), with a few others that could have been omitted entirely, the majority of the material nevertheless holds together well, making for an entertaining, if somewhat offbeat, time at the movies. Sensitive viewers are strongly cautioned, however, that the film features numerous scenes with explicit depictions of **** male sexuality, so those who are easily given to offense may wish to pass on this unrated release. Those considerations aside, though, this is a film that’s more than it might superficially seem, particularly the further one gets into the story. It’s quite an eye-opening ride into a world that many may be unfamiliar with, but it’s also one that simultaneously makes us laugh and makes us think – a rare combination to be found in the same picture, to be sure.
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(Mauro Lanari)
No famous existentialist (Schopenhauer, Leopardi, all the authors - including filmmakers - of the first half of the twentieth century and Cioran himself) has ever committed suicide, since intellectual, artistic or philosophical, sublimation already acts as an antidote as Eros and other non-endogenous drugs, and unfortunately even the film adopts dark comedy and black humor as a counterweight. Perhaps it may seem close to the Almodóvar of the 80s, but the clearest reference is to the Heideggerian "fecal dejection" sung by Morrison in "Riders on the Storm" ("Into this world we're thrown / Like a dog without a bone"). The maid is the emblem not of a class struggle, but rather of a blissful ignorance with which incommunicability is guaranteed, so that the last twist is extraordinary, worthy of the best theater of the absurd.
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Rotting in the Sun has a message, but it gets lost among aimless layers that never quite take a clear shape.
The film addresses issues related to optimism, nihilism, social media and, most importantly, the clash of cultures. However, it does so with characters that are unattractive and irritating, as is the case with Jordan, who is precisely the type of person I would prefer to avoid any contact with.
This ensured that this surreal adventure never managed to capture my true interest.
From my perspective, Rotting in the Sun seems to explore the more absurd facets of contemporary existentialism. However, in the process, its unbridled journey becomes equally disconcerting. Certainly, it doesn't adhere to a conventional path, but the sum of its accomplishments and themes doesn't tip the scales in its favor. That's because although its sharp black humor offers an intriguing exploration of the complexities of modern life in the digital age, the lasting impression is ultimately fleeting.
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Awards
Film Independent Spirit Awards
• 3 Nominations
VHS Awards
• 3 Nominations
Champs-Élysées Film Festival
• 1 Win & 2 Nominations