Maybe it's the proximity to large bodies of water, but Karim Aïnouz's Futuro Beach features the most naked gay men since Stranger by the Lake, though the men in Aïnouz's film are ultimately clothed more often than not. Donato (Wagner Moura) is a professional lifeguard for the title beach in Brazil. After failing to save a German tourist from drowning, he soon hooks up with the victim's hunky companion Konrad (Clemens Schick). After frolicking more or less on the downlow, Konrad asks Donato to return with him to Germany, where he remains for the next several years, even after breaking up with Konrad. Donato's expatriation doesn't sit well with his hero-worshipping younger brother Ayrton, now an angry young man (Jesuíta Barbosa, with daggers perpetually shooting from his eyes) searching the dank Berlin streets for the hero who betrayed him. It's a story about the elusiveness of happiness that could have just as easily be told with straight people, especially since Donato made his bad choices not because he's gay, but because it's very difficult to make good choices when you think you have a shot at being happy. But if you can't find happiness either on a beautiful but frequently lethal beach or a bustling but grim Berlin, where can you? Futuro Beach doesn't know, either.
Comments are closed.
