I read another review of this film that concluded that the reality of life is too cruel for hope. Yeah, no. I didn’t like this film because there was no hope and I’m tired of seeing movies with a strong GLBTI theme that have no hope. We’re not all that grey, sad and hopeless.

At a big film festival you’re fortunate enough to witness the story telling efforts and methods of many different directors and those who are successful really stand out. This effort from Lorenzo Vigas isn’t one of them. I saw his film Desde allá after seeing the work of the amazingly talented John Michael McDonagh (War on Everyone), Ivan Sen (Goldstone), André Téchiné (Being 17) and Frederikke Aspöck (Rosita) to name just a few. These films are all entertaining and well-told stories. Lorenzo Vigas holds far too much back in Desde allá, but it is also far too depressing.

The actors can only work with what they’ve got but the well regarded Chilean star Alfredo Castro as Armando, gives us nothing. He shows hardly any emotion in the entire film and he does have a fair bit to be emotional about. He plays an older man with some issues who seeks sexual gratification by cruising for and then watching naked or near-naked youths undress in his apartment while he jerks off. His co-lead as the younger man, Luis Silva, manages to show a wider range, including some tenderness and vulnerability. He also adds some much needed colour in this largely colourless film. Maybe Castro just isn’t allowed to respond, but it would have worked better if he did, regardless of all of Armando’s unidentified issues.

The film is set in Caracas, Venezuela and I acknowledge that the film also highlights the differences between the haves and have-nots. It certainly made me feel a lot luckier with my own lot, but to some extent Rosita also dealt with a bleak economic environment and some unrequited love and still managed to leave the viewer with some hope and inspiration.

I was disappointed.

My Bruce McAvaney Specialness Rating*: 2 (Pretty ordinary really.)