Leo's Room
January. 20,2010Leo, a young man coming to terms with his own sexuality, runs into Caro, a primary school friend he fancied when they were kids, who's now trying to ward off her own personal demons. This casual re-encounter will affect their personal conflicts without either truly grasping the other's problem.
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I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much
Simply Perfect
Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.
The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.
Like other reviewers I was really sucked in and thoroughly enjoyed the first 80% or more, but then it seemed to lose itself slightly.I don't want to spoil it for anyone so I won't go into detail. It is just a shame the director couldn't have continued with the same attention to detail and intrigue that was so evident in the first hour or so of the movie.I would have to disagree with other reviewers regarding Caro. Some felt she was totally unnecessary, but for me she was essential to the story. At the point she entered the story there was a similarity between Leo and her, i.e. they both had unresolved issues. This for me added an extra dimension to the movie, which meant it transcended the usual coming of age / coming out of the closet flick.Where I would agree, as far as Caro is concerned, is that this story arc was not resolved in a way that made it as integral to the overall protagonist's journey as it could have been.To be honest, had I rated it after 85% I would probably have given it a 9, but the last 15% just didn't do it for me. Maybe after a few days reflection I might feel differently.All of that said, I would still recommend it as there is so much to like about and so many interesting characters.
This is an absolutely first rate film from beginning to end. It grabs you and never lets go. You become completely wrapped up in the story and the characters and you really care about what happens to them and what is happening in general. The cast is perfect and probably the biggest secret to film success is successful casting and this film has it in spades. The ending, which apparently some here do not care for is carefully worked out if you pay attention to the clues that crop up on the way to the ending. There are definite signs in the road that lead you to only one conclusion which will in the end make everyone happy. I won't give it away because that would be a spoiler but one thing I will say is that I was shocked this gem of a film came from a Latin American country so remote I didn't even know it existed, but that's what makes film so exciting because even the least known places on the planet can make a name for themselves in the international film market and this film definitely does that.
They say that avocados are an acquire taste, the same we can say about this type of movies. The slow timing, the great length of the scenes with a lot of silences, very scarce dialog, the favorite way to make movies by Ingmar Bergman, by Antonioni... you really have to accept those premises if you decide to watch this film.It has a great deal of excellence thanks to everybody involved in it, since obviously they filmed it with a very restricted budget. It seems the lighting they used was the natural ambiance light and if the scene came out too dark, too bad, no way they would re shoot it, but exactly those no-no's (for a Hollywood production) helped in this case to get the necessary atmosphere to develop the story with great intimacy and naturalness. It was filmed, practically, as a documentary.All the actors were true professionals, save, maybe, the mother of the protagonist, that for some reason gave a wrong feeling to her phrasing, almost as if she was reading the lines.I truly believe that this movie could benefit enormously if they take it back to the editing room and cut about half an hour, because some of the scenes are unnecessarily too long for no reason whatsoever.*****Spoilers ahead *****I have the feeling at the conclusion of the story, that the director --or the producer or whoever decided about the ending-- panicked with the idea that the protagonist would end up being homosexual and happy as such, so they decided all of a sudden, after all that inner torture and knuckle biting throughout the whole movie, that, after all, our guy happened to be heterosexual (bisexual?) but since the ending is left totally open we'll never know what his true sexual orientation was.
This movie quickly drew me in. Leo's a lovable character. Not only is he hot as portrayed by Martín Rodríguez, but he's a lot like the puppy that his ex-girlfriend gifts him. A bit clueless, and liable to ruin your rugs, if not your heart. He seems a sweet gentle caring guy but he's not yet clued-in to his homosexuality.I think it's great that he finally starts to open up to his shrink but the ending left me wanting more. The road-trip seemed to come outta left field and it really doesn't bode well for his actually facing who and what he is. I think that the director realized that he had a lovable character but that the story hadn't progressed to the point where we could have a happy ending and that's what this movie really called for.I felt that Caro's story could have been better interwoven into the whole if one wanted a more cohesive movie but as a gay man wanting to watch a gay-themed movie I'm just as glad that there wasn't too much screen time spent on those aspects.I WOULD have liked to see more interaction between Leo and his brother and Leo and his mother. I felt that the stoner guy was really unnecessary except as a plot device to make Leo's take-home dates more awkward.Definitely not a waste of time but still not quite mainstream quality fare.