Ato Noturno

Both directors introduced their movie by saying they made it like everything that's being made in Brazil - with a lot of passion.

And sure - the lead characters might have had passion (and a lot of public sex) but they also had about zero chemistry. If I had to sum the movie up in one sentence, it would be something along the lines of "This could all have been avoided if these two grown men wouldn't have been so horny and just kept it in their pants."

I get the metaphor - both had their individual goal, realized they have been losing themselves while chasing it but the execution seemed a bit over the top for me.

That being said, the directors were really sweet and stayed for a Q&A after the screening.

Seen at Festheart 2025.

The Night Stage was selected for the closing gala of the 2025bFlare festival in London. Understandably so, as it's quite a production, gets your attention from the very first scene and keeps you engaged with a complex plot, great camera work and suggestive sound.

However, the main plot - fetish discovered by 2 "random" lovers, unfortunately did not convince me. Interestingly, from the storytelling perspective I think that the screenplay had it all - we see how 2 lovers discover thrills of the risky encounters, we see how it grows in stages to the very extreme. However, instead of following the characters in their journey it is harder to believe them every time they meet again, to the point of the last scene which becomes a grotesque.

Thinking of similar movies it's hard for me not to compare it to the Babygirl which explored similar ideas and in my opinion did it right: we could see how gradually temptation wins over scruples as well as common sense. Night Stage on the other hand crosses subsequent boundaries with no scruples nor any reflection. Apart from the very first one, sex scenes happen out of the blue and the lovers engage in pushing the limits for no visible reason - which leaves us struggling to believe why they are willing to 'risk it all' just to have another quickie.

Overall, if you're after some action but you don't necessarily care about any deeper meaning - this could be a good watch. If you are willing to graciously turn a blind eye on the shortcomings so that you could see a bold attempt to explore a very interesting fetish phenomenon - you could give it a try too. However, if you want to appreciate something both deep and convincing, it will just irritate you with the amount of wasted potential.

Night Stage was the Closing Gala at London's 2025 Flare film festival - so I had high hopes for what was billed as a "dark erotic thriller".

Things started off reasonably well. The film festival used a few different scenes from Night Stage in their publicity, and for good reason. The movie is absolutely beautifully shot. The theatre scenes are particularly gorgeous, and it helps that the cast themselves are beautiful.

But the trouble is that beautiful scenes aren't enough for a good movie. The sex scenes didn't seem plausible - they just looked performative, and often the angles were just wrong!

And whilst the final scenes of a movie are always difficult, in Night Stage they just seemed absurd. Without giving away the plot, it was telling that the guy beside me in the cinema was moved to exclaim with incredulity!

So do go and see this film if you enjoy beautiful scenes - just don't expect a well crafted / credible storyline.