User Reviews

I was pleasantly surprised by this film, having gone into it not knowing much about it other than it involving references to S&M and HIV. I found the story very illuminating about the life of someone with HIV, especially as he was gay, HIV is still seen as a homosexual disease despite the number of heterosexual sufferers, and this film highlighted the lifestyle of a lot of gay men (the anonymous sex and the difficulty in finding a loving relationship). The S&M part was merely a sideline, it was just something he was into and had no real bearing on the main plot of his struggle with HIV and looking for a relationship. I found it very sweet when he wrote his personal ads looking for a gay lover, having to admit he had HIV and his joke about his 'porno disease', his poetic background made everything he said all the more poignant. His only outlet for any really emotional or physical connection with other men was through this S&M club which was quite sad, it reduced sex to just the physical, but I also felt glad that he got something from the experience even though his relationship with Martin never became what he wanted it to, he managed to gather enough material to write a book about his life with HIV. I reckon if it was a real book would have sold extremely well. I found the characters very genuine and could relate to them in a way which I never thought I would be able to given that I am not a gay man with HIV, but I think people have been conditioned to thinking about HIV by big Hollywood films such as Philadelphia. There is no real resolution in Un Ano Sin Amour, unlike Philadelphia the main character does not die which I see as a cop out ending, but he simply moves on, for possibly another year without love.

UN AÑO SIN AMOR falls under the category of stories where a marginalized character remains passive throughout his or her plight, and very little seems to come out of the experience. Pablo Perez, an aspiring poet who lives with his aunt in the Buenos Aires of 1996 -- the date is beyond me, the movie looks and feels at least fifteen, even twenty years older than its time period -- is suffering from HIV, refuses a new treatment that could save his life, has what seems to be an open-ended relationship with a former lover, has had failed encounters with men due to his status (at the time it was an unspoken thing, at least in Latin American countries) and as of late has decided to venture into the delicate subculture of the BDSM lifestyle.

Of course, like anyone who knows nothing of a subject matter, Pablo does not understand that he has contacted a suavely demanding master who abuses his own power and insists on being "in character" at all times. (This is an aspect that is prevalent in the leather lifestyle where there are men who, while on the 'top' end of the spectrum, create an ego about themselves and decide that any potential lover is a 'slave', while the ones who are on the 'bottom' spectrum are people who genuinely want to be humiliated, told what to do, and will place themselves in situations where their safety may be in danger at the cost of being under someone else's control.) Leather, an interest that can be very liberating given a balanced understanding of what it encompasses, is made to look as ugly as possible here. The scenes, while graphic, do not arouse -- anyone might fare better with porn from Titan Media.

So Pablo, under the acquaintance of his present master, makes the mistake of falling for a cute guy. A well-meaning partner gives him a caveat, but Pablo decides to go ahead and meet the hottie. Big mistake.

Even so, this is not the worst part of the movie -- if anything, this storyline could have been a conduit for a man like Pablo to find a reaffirmation, but such a thing never happens here and he floats on with no direction. Where the movie fails is to include the family within its boundaries. Pablo is clearly a man nearing thirty; what is he still doing living with a needy aunt and depending on his father? What is the big deal about writing a memoir? All this sounds like a throwback to a time twenty-five years ago when being gay was like having cancer. And while he clearly is on the way to success, you would never know it; instead of booking a room at a hotel while the storm clears up he heads to the leather club which has become his escape.

I wanted to feel for the story, but there wasn't much for me to hold onto from the get-go. I did enjoy the first twenty minutes and its cinema-verite feel, but with characters that never bother to relate to their audience, there was little identification. Some of the trance music is indeed alienating, but the movie, without music, is already alienating in itself. It's just one of those stories that are out there, existing, without much color or life or intent, honest, but lifeless.

Pablo is a young poet in Buenos Aires infected with the HIV virus. It is 1996 and a lot of the new drugs to treat the disease were not easily available to anyone yet. He had returned home after living three years in Paris. Pablo shares the apartment with an aunt who appears to be mentally challenged, spending hours on the phone.

We follow Pablo as he goes through the city, usually late at night. Being a loner, Pablo shows no self esteem. He prefers to have anonymous sex at movie houses catering to people like him. He also tries placing ads for encounters with others of his own inclination, specifying he is carrying the HIV virus. In those dark places it never occurs to him to inform the people he meets, something that is wrong and irresponsible on his part.

One day Pablo discovers the thrill of the S&M scene. He is taken by a friend to meet a man who introduces him to that world of leather and pain. Pablo, who is reluctant at first, discovers a natural attitude to engage in that scene that not only humiliates the weaker participant, but gives him a false enjoyment to fill his loneliness.

Directed by Anahi Berneri whose other two efforts, "Encarnacion" and "Por tu culpa" we had seen, this is a film that depicts that sordid world where sex is viewed in a different way. Pablo realizes he is going to die from the cruel disease that afflicts him. He sees no hope in getting a cure so he only does what satisfies him. Based on a short story by the real Pablo Perez, who adapted it for the screen with Ms. Berneri and Susana Silvestre. The film was shot in dark, and grainy tones by Lucio Bonelli with incidental music composed by Martin Bauer and Leo Garcia. One of the producers of this film is Daniel Burman.

Juan Minujin plays Pablo with a cool sense of what his character is going through. Others in minor roles include Omar Nunez, Javier Van DeCouter, Mimi Ardu and Ricardo Merkin.