Esteros Reviews

Does it often feel like every other gay movie is about two men falling in love and one of them having a fraught relationship to his sexuality and object of desire? I get it, self-repression is part of the queer experience, but it can get mildly depressing to watch movie after movie detailing this panic-stricken moment when one character has to choose between his authentic self or societal expectations. Enter Esteros, a movie all about that exact moment yet told with uncommon sensitivity and tactile sensuality.

We alternate back-and-forth in time, between the idyllic adolescence friendship between Matias and Jeronimo and their tension-filled reunion ten years later. We witness their youthful selves at the exact moment that sexuality begins to intrude upon their lives, and there’s something more happening between them than mere friendship. Flashforward ten years later and it’s clear neither one has entirely gotten over the absence of the other. While Matias has seemingly accepted a buttoned-up heterosexual life, Jeronimo has embraced a more bohemian and queerer lifestyle. Their attraction and chemistry are evident even in their awkward first moments.

We spend much time exploring why they parted, what incidents happened to drive them apart, and an airing of long simmering emotions popping off at random spurts. There’s a shorthand there that no one else can ever hope to replicate and understand, and I found myself rooting for them to make it work. Call me a romantic, but I hoped these two crazy kids would work it all out by the end.

It’s too Papu Curotto’s directorial achievement that one can see this going any number of ways, and Esteros manages to never fall into melodramatics or hysterics. Events unfold at a realistic and logical pace based upon the character’s personalities and histories. It works well as a quiet storm romance, a sensual drama, and offers a chance to bask in the beauty of the Argentinian wetlands of the title.

Here’s a tiny little movie with a big emotional punch and an uncommon sensitivity offered to its various characters and their plights. One of the great joys of the streaming age is the chance to discover these quiet movies that never got a chance beyond the festival circuit or a one-week run in an arthouse theater. Esteros may not reinvent its various cinematic tropes in a large way, but it deploys them consummate skill, intelligence, and emotional truth.