Cola de Mono

The story was OK, but the real reason to watch is the hot guys!

I was slightly misled by the cover of the dvd, which seemed to promise some sort of steamy male erotic arthouse film. Well, arthouse sure is what I got, but mostly of the dramatic kind, and so intangible that a lot of its why's and how's and where to's eluded my too simple brain.

It's, as far as I could grasp it, about a disfunctional family: an embittered, unstable and castrating mother and her two young adult sons. They all have long and cynical conversations, bicker and yell, and in the meantime try to celebrate a family christmas dinner. The boys both have gay issues: Vicente is closeted, seeking anonymous and risky sex at cruising areas and feeling guilty and despondent about it; Borja revels at home in solo gay fantasies. This leads to a clash with each other, and eventually, when the mother steps in, to a sudden violent and fatal outburst.

We later see Borja emerging in the dark underworld of gay saunas, for yet another violent act. Is it a revenge for his brother? A kinky sexual fulfillment? A reckoning with his own being gay? We never know (or I totally missed it of course).

Throughout the movie there are several scenes with graphic gay sex and nudity, and one has to praise both young actors for their courage to go along with the apparent need for realism of the director. It's a bit much and probably not everyone's cup of tea, but I guess functional for the story that the makers want to tell. For the most part however, this movie is pretty slow, dramatic and talkative, so don't expect a steamy sex movie, in that respect the cover definitely is used for tittilating PR-purposes only.

"Cola de mono" does have its moments, but it is a not very good little film about two brothers coming to terms with their homosexuality, on Christmas night 1986, in Santiago de Chile, after drinking too much 'cola de mono' (a strong sort of eggnog). Sexy it is, especially in all the scenes where brother Borja appears, very well played by young actor Cristóbal Rodríguez Costabal as the intense, clever and often funny bad apple of what is left of the Díaz family. However, the melodrama went beyond my tolerance level, the more so when credibility was badly affected by an unusual accumulation of secrets, male butts and people with knives, blades and hurting things of all sorts. Other sources list 102 minutes as running time, but I saw this 98 version (with all explicit scenes) and it seemed interminable. Fans of 'queer cinema' would surely rise the rating a bit.

The performance by one of the young leads was great ...everyone else was "blah." This had potential, but the plot was rather far-fetched and difficult to take seriously. Ending is ruined by another ridiculous plot twist.

Not quite the fun, sexual party I was expecting from the front cover, but instead a dark and serious piece about two handsome brothers and their own individual quirks.

There is a scene where Borja sneaks in to his brothers bedroom which is excruciatingly sensual and a sequence later on that is oozing with sex, but the main story doesn't really have an ending or at least an explanation of the ending. I also found it very odd that the actor playing the young Vicente then played the older Borja and it kind of threw the epilogue off too.

It was enjoyable though, especially if you want to get your rocks off.

Arty and not what you'd expect from a film set on Christmas Eve in 1986.