Starring: Facundo Gambandé, María Fernanda Calléjon, Diego De Paula, Antonella Ferrari, Pablo Valdes
Director: Nicolás Tété
Country: Argentina
Manuel (Gambandé) has already come out to his parents (De Paula & Calléjon), but they are yet to fully come to terms with it. Manuel lives in Buenos Aires, far from his home town, but when he returns to ask his father for money to help him move to Denmark with his boyfriend, his plans are thrown into disarray when he suddenly finds himself single within hours of arrival. What was meant to be a triumphant exit is transformed into a difficult reconciliation as he reacts to his status as the black sheep of the family, when his younger brother (Valdes) is The Golden Child with a budding sports career teetering on the verge of success.
The titular skeleton doesn’t actually refer to Manuel’s sexuality, but instead to the secret the family is keeping from his brother. But for Manuel, it is his revelation that is important, which is being swept under the carpet by his siblings and parents alike. For him, this was meant to be his opportunity to blissfully fly the nest, but this has been snatched away from him, as has his familial resolution, with their attention firmly placed elsewhere.
This is a character piece about a likeable – if somewhat innocuous – everyman, who maintains composure through most of the film. It would actually have been more interesting if Manuel was just a little more volatile, or even if his family were. The father is overbearing and his mother capricious, but it’s a family drama that doesn’t say very much, but when it does, says it rather slowly.
OUT NOW TO WATCH ON DEKKOO, RELEASED BY TLA RELEASING (DVD AND ON DEMAND RELEASE ON 12TH JANUARY)
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