L'Ornithologue

The movie is about a bird watcher out on a camping trip doing his thing when his raft boat crashes in the woods forcing him to struggle to get out while some odd things are happening.

It was a pretty awesome adventure, as the The Ornithologist would encounter stranger and stranger things, like two good Christian Chinese girls who wanted to offer him to the evil spirits in the forest and a group of topless girls on horseback in a hunting tribe.

Thought it was cool watching this dude survive his odd wilderness experience, but I must admit, my mind is not as open as I thought as there was a naked man on naked man sex scene that I could not watch. I scene other movies where two dudes kiss and have sex but I don't think I've ever seen two men full frontal naked getting romantic. If it makes me seem unenlightened that I had to keep my head turned the whole time then so be it, cause I had too. It was funny cause the scene walks you into to it very easy but still could not take it.

But I did like the movie. I thought it was a great adventure movie about a guy in the wilderness. Hopefully it has also soften me to men or men love scenes just in case it comes up again.

http://cinemagardens.com

it is the most comfortable definition. and, maybe, the most precise. because, except the trip of an ornithologist across a forest, strange meetings and fantastic adventures, nothing could be known. but, it is not exactly an enigma. and not a cryptic improvisation. it has a lot of cultural references and this does it, in same measure, a religious film, an art film, a form of fairy tale - the rules are the same - or an experiment remembering Bunuel. but significant is not what the director says . the key remains the final feeling. without a reasonable name but who could be defined as fascination. and this is the basic virtue of this challenge/provocative film. to recognize pieces from Romano Catholic hagiography, to see fragments of expressionism, to admire an eulogy of psychoanalysis or the deep solitude like a source of escape from yourself.

Imagine if Robert Bresson and Walerian Borowczyk were a single person, a synthesis filmmaker. Now imagine that person is gay. Now imagine that person had a fever dream. That dream would be "The Ornithologist". (If you understood that sentence we're soulmates).

If you're in the market for a psycho-sexual erotic biblical parable that flirts with bondage, urination fetish, bestiality, and just good old fashion beautiful men rolling around naked on a beach, but, you know, all done in an artistically austere, under- emphasized way and then hazed into a hallucinatory mist of a story, then this is your jam right here.

What did I think of it?

I thought it was AWESOME!

One of the few (if not the only) films that can take so many leaps into the plot, instigating you to embrace the idea and watch until the end. The new film by João Pedro Rodrigues, a guy who has always embraced the theme "queer" in his work, because there are, yes, great films in the gay scene for the LGBT community made by him. One that I really enjoyed was "The Phantom" (2000). It's his, too; "Odete" (2005) and "The Last Time I Saw Macau" (2012). It's curious how your cinema breathes Pasolini (but it's not a comparison). I think Rodrigues, like Gregg Araki, Gus Van Sant and Pedro Almodóvar, citing my favorites, are real filmmakers who hover the flag. But none of them focuses exclusively on the subject as Rodrigues - who also proved to go to other ways with this film. "The Ornithologist" is a journey of self-discovery. A bucolic adventure of a hermit in the wild heart. With some terrifying and surreal passages. The ending is totally wrapped in mysteries (just like the whole movie) and open to various interpretations. Their cinema is not childish, so the drama is strengthened by maturity and always bring erotic situations and sex scenes without fear of the showing. Nudity here is the most curious point, especially in a movie that never shows, a priori, clues to anything, just makes it happen. But, as I said earlier, the swings are the big cheap of the tape. It's a plot-twist after another. It is an exotic, economical and creative production. Yes. "I'm recovering ..." The Portuguese also make a daring and original cinema. This is a real lesson in script and direction. The sensation is almost a trip without purposeful destiny. Is it really that Fernando wants to go home?

Oh, before I forget, it's a religious-themed film, in fact, it could not be missed. It is always pertinent to poke the jaguar with the short stick, right?

It is another collaboration with João Rui Guerra da Mata, art director, screenwriter, and finally, filmmaker, who always works on Rodrigues' films.

I can't say that I don't respect this film. There's a lot going on underneath, but it's one of those films that you either get or you don't. I don't think I fully got it, either in a intellectual level or on an emotional one. Even if the former doesn't come at first, if the latter does, that's all that matters. The film lost me, but I also know it's one that will benefit from rewatches and further introspection. I can't wait to really gather my thoughts on it to see how it fares with time for me. In the meantime, I recommend it, with hesitations, but only to the right people.