Rotting in the Sun

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 gay 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 gay 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 gay 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.

Wasn't expecting a few unexpected twists and the fast sudden change of leads within a movie with 2 protagonists. Impressive. This has a genuine feel of reality and it follows a very logical route of story telling. And that's exactly how the guilty character would behave with anyone caught in that dire predicament. The female helper was truly superb in her performance giving so many conflicting and disturbing vibes of what exactly is she in character essence. She can seem naive and somewhat intellectually slow, yet her instinctive prodding for an accomplice to erase her reckless misdeed betrays her darker nature. Again, the ending was another unexpected twist from her yet unpredictable surrender of truth when she could have had simply fade into oblivion. Great show.

So this is of course polarizing and yes, Silva does have a tendency to deliberately shock for no dramatic purpose, but this film is carried by his muse Catalina Saavedra who helped him to stardom as "La Nana" (2009) which won Sundance back in the day. Silva then moved to the US and made one terrible film after another, all lacking the ingenious timing of "La Nana", so he has good reasons to be depressed and suicidal. This film is obviously a cleansing ritual of sorts, Silva kills himself to be born again, and while this may seem terribly self-centered, it does provide one of the most neglected actresses a chance to show her vast range.

It's also a rare satire of hedonistic queer life as only Almodóvar did before respectability killed his genius, also in collaboration with muses, most importantly Carmen Maura. It's no coincidence that Saavedra's part has similarities with Maura's in "What have I done to deserve this" (1984). Firstman is pretty gutsy doing a role like this (just imagine, Michael Cera turned it down). He is an Instagramer and this film makes you hate them even more. Most people don't seem to get the allegory of the artist working on film and canvas (which Saavedra destroys in her first scene) being replaced by the digital usurper, although that elevates the film to social criticism.

For me it's a positive surprise as I didn't expect much from it, but the shock value for non-gays makes it niche. To paraphrase a Latino saying, Americans just can't look cocks in the eye(s).

Most folks here just use their own names, so it's easy to follow the characterisations as dysfunctional, ketamine-loving, "Sebastián" (Silva) encounters the drowning "influencer" Jordan Firstman in trouble just off a nudist beach. Rescued and grateful, the doggy-paddler invites his new saviour to hang out with him and his collection of "accommodating" gay groupies. This isn't quite his scene though, especially when his buddy starts posting stuff that "Sebastián" doesn't really want seen. Anyway, Firstman offers him a role working on his new project and decides to move in while they work it through. Silva has a lot to do on this film so he cleverly arranges that with the help of the maid "Vero" (Catalina Saavedra) and a rather ugly looking brown sofa, he manages to write himself out of the rest of this, increasingly mysterious, little drama that for Jordan could now be called "Where's Sebastián?". Now we all know what has happened as we continue to follow the almost farcical consequences as tracks have to be covered and Firstman vacillates between annoyed to concerned to perplexed to... You get the drift. If you like his style of comedy and delivery, then you'll enjoy this rather ripe and quick-fired look at all things media, gay drug-induced and shallow - indeed, there are few stereotypes left unharmed by this - but it's never dull and though the ending is distinctly weak, I thought this was quite a fun film that shies away from nothing - so don't watch if you've an allergy to male genitalia and beach shagging.

Overall, Rotting in the Sun has everything it takes to make a decent thriller. It's pacy, it's good kind of chaotic, well acted by the protagonists and interesting twists and turn.

I get that excessive drugs use from the hedonistic protagonists seems like a 'social commentary' of influencers life, but it ended up being tacky. Haven't you heard, hedonism is no longer cool in this economy ?

Coming into this film i expect a certain degree of nudity, but my goodness, i didn't expect this many flashing of male genitalia and explicit sex scenes that pretty much a 'corn'.

These things felt like it serves as a 'shock value', with purpose to compensate other things that this film lack of, and that is humor. It has nothing to do with the story and i don't see any reason why this is necessary.

I watched this film cause of some rave on tiktok. Maybe it's not the most reliable apps to gets films recommendation.