Rotting in the Sun, dir. Sebastián Silva, 2023, USA/Mexico, 109 min., in Spanish and English with partial subtitles 💩💩💩🔞
Friday, June 16, 8:30 pm, Castro • not streaming • coming to theatres
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| Rotting in the Sun |
Filmmaker Sebastián Silva (Crystal Fairy & the Magical Cactus) plays a version of himself as a washed-up, ketamine-addicted, suicide-obsessed artist (filmmaker and wannabe painter) who rescues a social media “influencer” (Jordan Firstman, pictured right, also playing a version of himself) from drowning at a gay nude beach. Jordan proposes a collaboration on a new project, but then Seb isn’t home when Jordan arrives at Seb’s home. Things get weirder and weirder, compounded by the sketchy behavior of Seb’s housekeeper Vero. There is lots of gratuitous nudity and some gratuitous sex, lots of on-screen drug use, and quite a bit of discussion of suicide.
The fundamental problem is that I did not relate to, empathize with, sympathize with, or even care about, any of the characters. As I said, the nudity and sex felt thoroughly gratuitous, and, as a dedicated ketamine non-user, I found the centrality of that drug (along with the assertion that “All gay men use ketamine”) quite off-putting, and that’s even before we get to the obsession with suicide. The Frameline program refers to Rotting in the Sun as Silva’s “latest provocation,” but it provoked only disdain and disgust, not thought or engagement with the characters. I enjoyed Crystal Fairy, although I understand that the real-life person (and a personal acquaintance) on whom the title character is based, did not appreciate the depiction of her story. I will definitely not be following Jordan on social media, either. Definitely, definitely NOT RECOMMENDED.
Special note regarding subtitles: the dialogue is in English (without subtitles), in Spanish (with subtitles), and in English and Spanish with iPhone translation (without subtitles).
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