I agree with the other person from Guatemala leaving his review here. As a Salvadoran I see the missed potential in talking about being LGBT in Central America. The movie is beautifully shot. Director Li Cheng obviously fell in love with the idea of portraying the chaos of the streets, the buses, the old buildings...We get it. He is a capable man. He is good at it. He's just not as good when it comes to screenwriting.
The moment I heard someone talking about ruins I knew the main character would go there for no significant reason at all.
Holes/ missed opportunities: First and foremost, Luis and Jose. I don't buy the relationship either. They are getting to know each other and suddenly Luis is talking about moving in together. How much time has passed?? I assume they met on Grindr or another app and I can only guess that's why Jose was looking for wi-fi in the beginning. What was different about Luis? We never get to learn that. Lingering shots won't tell a story and Heigh's "weekend" this is not.
These two characters don't know each other, but Jose's mom does recognize Luis and tries to talk with his mom. They could easily have found out their moms worked at the same place or go to the same church, if we would have actually seen these two men getting to know each other, and not only in bed. I am actually curious about Luis' relationship with his violent siblings and what his mom pretends not to know.
The mom and lack of work. Don't get me wrong. I know the issues that street vendors face in our region, but they show her selling in two different locations, so when she talks about not going to work because the cops took them out of a place, it doesn't make sense that she wouldn't go elsewhere. People can't afford to stay home because of that and it's not like she had a little place that the cops brought down, as they actually do in real life.
Mom/ grandmother: Why showing a grandmother for a couple of exchanges? She talks about leaving possible love behind to take care of Jose's mom. That's an interesting topic to explore. But nop... Let's move on to more long shots of the road.
Another motorcycle. Let's make something out of that, I guess. They could have discussed that that ride between Jose and Luis could NEVER happened without at least someone shouting a slur at them, that would make their embrace and the distance between strangers more meaningful, just like choosing not to touch when greeting each other.
I was actually falling asleep.
The moment I heard someone talking about ruins I knew the main character would go there for no significant reason at all.
Holes/ missed opportunities: First and foremost, Luis and Jose. I don't buy the relationship either. They are getting to know each other and suddenly Luis is talking about moving in together. How much time has passed?? I assume they met on Grindr or another app and I can only guess that's why Jose was looking for wi-fi in the beginning. What was different about Luis? We never get to learn that. Lingering shots won't tell a story and Heigh's "weekend" this is not.
These two characters don't know each other, but Jose's mom does recognize Luis and tries to talk with his mom. They could easily have found out their moms worked at the same place or go to the same church, if we would have actually seen these two men getting to know each other, and not only in bed. I am actually curious about Luis' relationship with his violent siblings and what his mom pretends not to know.
The mom and lack of work. Don't get me wrong. I know the issues that street vendors face in our region, but they show her selling in two different locations, so when she talks about not going to work because the cops took them out of a place, it doesn't make sense that she wouldn't go elsewhere. People can't afford to stay home because of that and it's not like she had a little place that the cops brought down, as they actually do in real life.
Mom/ grandmother: Why showing a grandmother for a couple of exchanges? She talks about leaving possible love behind to take care of Jose's mom. That's an interesting topic to explore. But nop... Let's move on to more long shots of the road.
Another motorcycle. Let's make something out of that, I guess. They could have discussed that that ride between Jose and Luis could NEVER happened without at least someone shouting a slur at them, that would make their embrace and the distance between strangers more meaningful, just like choosing not to touch when greeting each other.
I was actually falling asleep.