Debate X NZIFF #7: Night Stage

DEBATE X NZIFF | REVIEW | WEB EXCLUSIVE

Written by Daniel Tang (he/him) | @daniel941 on Letterboxd | Contributing Writer

Camp, cunt, and cruising culture. Dimly lit nighttime parks. Grimy hidden public bathrooms. Beautiful hill lookouts in full view of the vibrant city of Porto Alegre, Brazil. Here, aspiring actor Matias and city mayor hopeful Rafael enter a debaucherous relationship defined by risk and reward. Long-time collaborating directors Marcio Reolon and Filipe Matzembacher have never been better in creating a film that whole-heartedly commits to the sexual thriller style while delivering self-aware campiness with unabashed boldness.

They ridiculously abuse dissolves, snap zooms and split screens to rev up how camp yet wildly thrilling – sexually, clawing for power and dabbling in the slasher giallo genre – a gay love story can be in Night Stage. It was wonderfully fitting that my sparsely populated Hollywood Avondale theatre was mostly queer-presenting men, seeing a part of our culture on screen with dramatic lighting and a thumping score despite what seems like a cinematic phase of Othering queer people and prudish reserved individualism. Queer people, in this case namely men who have sex with men, create and maintain their own in-group cultural rules and expectations about kinship and sex – never among non-participants, unspoken consent cues, and what should be an undying solidarity to one another. It is in that latter sentiment of community solidarity that the central actor and politician pair’s violation of some cardinal rules in queer culture present a real, flawed instance of queer sexuality with exhibitionism. Even then, their ridiculous antics – behind closed doors and brazenly at public spaces alike – become endearing and part of what makes Night Stage so flawed yet critically engaging and full of life. Gay sex is so back!