Loosely based on his own life queer Brazilian filmmaker Raphael Gomes’s feature film debut is the story of one man’s journey after being unceremoniously dumped by his boyfriend.
The protagonist also named Raphael and played by Raphael de Bona had stayed at home in Sao Paolo whilst his unnamed beau went on a trip to the US for 45 days. During his absence the boyfriend kept expressing his anxiety that Raphael may fall for someone else, but in the end it is he that returns and announces that he has fallen back in love with his ex and is moving to Chicago to be with him.
Raphael dramatically packs a bag and flies off into the arms of a Brazilian gal pal who now lives in London. This is the start of his own 45 day sojourn when he also visits other pals in Portugal and Argentina looking to them for answers about life and life. His that is.
Even though he has an increasing tendency to be melodramatic, Raphael is nevertheless an engaging young man when he is not doing his best impression of a self-absorbed drama queen. There are some delightfully touching comic moments that warm one to the lovelorn loser and some idyllic scenes of the cities that he visits that would make an impressive travelogue. Asides from that though Raphael’s constantly over analyzing of his ability to hold down a man, does get a tad tedious at time, and tests your own patience with him too.
The movie is peppered with a talented cast of actors who both lift Raphael’s spirits and the tone of the drama to ensure all is not completely lost, and there is in fact every possibility of even a happy ending.
Brazil has a well-deserved reputation for being the source of some excellent LGBT movies, and although this not one of them it does have a certain appeal. Particularly for recently dumped boyfriends
