For years now, Argentinian filmmaker Marco Berger has been making films that blur the line between male friendship and foreplay, examining the complicated feelings that can often live just below the surface of homosocial bonds.
His previous feature Horseplay, for example, focused on a group of straight male friends spending their vacation together at gorgeous villa, and investigated the ways both homophobia and homoeroticism colors their every interaction.
With his newest film, The Astronaut Lovers, Berger returns to similar territory, though its one the writer-director describes as both a mood change—lighter and closer to comedy—and quite possibly his favorite film of his entire career thus far.
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In it, a young gay man named Pedro (Javier Orán) travels from Spain to Argentina to spend his summer at a vacation home with his cousins and some friends. Once there, he’s surprised to bump into his old childhood summer camp pal Maxi (Lautaro Bettoni), who he was secretly crushing on back in the day.
Maxi, who has always thought he was straight, recently broke up with his girlfriend Sabrina (Mora Arenillas), but finds himself intrigued by Pedro. Though it’s been years, the two have an easy chemistry, one filled with gentle teasing, provocative questions, and what just might be flirting.
The tension between the guys gets kicked up a notch when Maxi decides to tell Sabrina and the others that Pedro is his boyfriend—something one seems to question, and in fact others feel was quite “obvious,” which sends Pedro’s mind racing.
Could it all be part of a ruse, or are Maxi’s feelings for Pedro requited?
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The young man asked if it’s “possible to be straight” while also desiring “average looking” guy who he nonetheless finds “impossibly attractive.”
The longer the pair continues on with the boyfriend charade, the more complicated things get, testing the limits of friendship and desire.
As for the title, The Astronaut Lovers, astronauts seem to be a recurring theme in Pedro and Maxi’s conversations, using outer space as a metaphor for their true feelings for one another—and making more than a few winking nods to one another’s “rockets.”
The sexual tension practically jumps off the screen, and it certainly helps that stars Orán and Bettoni are quite easy on the eyes…
Marco Berger’s The Astronaut Lovers premiered at the The Buenos Aires Independent Film Festival last month, where Orán and Bettoni shared the Best Actor prize. Next, the feature heads to the Guadalajara International Film Festival in Mexico, which runs from June 7 – 15.
Future festival dates and screenings have yet to be announced—stay tuned!—but an international trailer for the film is now available, which you can watch below:
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