Will Domingos | Trevas (Marrow) / 2013

the heart of the matter

by Douglas Messerli

 

Will Domingos (screenplay and director) Trevas (Marrow) / 2013 [24 minutes]

 

I have now watched the Brazilian short film Marrow written and directed by Will Domingos 3 times in order to ascertain what this movie might truly be trying to say other than presenting some of the stunning beautiful scenery of the Southeastern Brazilian rain forest where two gay lovers (Lucas Nascimento and Andrêas Gatto) venture presumably to explore themselves and their relationship.

    Except for a brief introductory statement about how her father visited his farms by horse in the old days and the fact that she is highly nostalgic, words spoken by evidently the owner (Luciana Botelho) of the place in which they are staying, this almost a silent film, so words explain nothing to us.

     What we do observe is that the taller and heartier of two, which I think you can easily discern as the dominant figure in this relationship, seems to be fairly at home in this new world, readily agreeing with the statements of their landlady, and leading his other, darker and diminutive friend out each day for a wander down the small town’s lanes and avenues. He has the camera most of the time, and films randomly the landscape he encounters. The numerous passages of the film with the hand-held camera are, as several commentators—most notably a Letterboxd and IMDb commentator who goes under the moniker of CinemaSerf declared, is “annoying,” he describing the director’s “POV style” as “little better than a poorly focused video diary,” a viewpoint with which I agree.

     What is interesting, however, is that when the diminutive lover takes up the camera when the two swimming in a forest pond, he films only his lover, a human being, while the other seems more interested in structures and landscape.

      Generally, it is the dominant figure who leads their forays, with the other hanging back or moving ahead tentatively, while the other stops to photograph a window or a tree. When the dominant one goes headlong into the undergrowth, he passes through a kind of floral world of obvious beauty, while the smaller lover heads straight to a tree that seems to be losing its bark or which has been burned in a fire, almost hugging it as he focuses on its different sublimity.

      The dominant one explains how to bait a fisherman’s hook, while the other goes fishing. When the heartier friend dives into the pool, Camilo (evidently the name of diminutive one) waits on the side, eating an apple which he shares with his friend when he pops up from the water.

     The heartier of the two clearly cares for and looks after his friend, particularly one night when after several drinks outside a cantina, Camilo has grown drunk. Our forceful friend literally picks up his lover’s body, delivering it to the bed, as he lays down beside it, gently stroking him.

      Yet Camilo, several, times goes out in the countryside alone, one time witnessing a whole field of wild horses, at another point in the late-night jungle walk, spotting what looks to be a small puma. And it is he, who brings his lover to the last high outpost where far above, they look down upon the vast forest growth, a stunning waterfall cascading down the rocks near them.

     Perhaps, by the end of the voyage, Camilo has grown stronger, and takes chances far more than his seemingly more adventuresome other.

    One thing is made clear, however, during the entire trip, the two deeply love one another, taking every opportunity to kiss and make love. Even checking for ticks becomes an occasion for lovemaking. It appears that the larger of the two enjoys his role as guide and caretaker. But perhaps in the future, he will have to look deeper into himself and the world around him, he will need to cut into the marrow, the bone of the matter, as Camilo has, to find true beauty and meaning.

      Domingos’ film is lovely to look at when he focuses with his own camera and is an intensely subtle portrait of these two men—perhaps, at times, too subtle. But it’s certainly worth watching.

 

Los Angeles, August 10, 2024

Reprinted from My Queer Cinema blog (August 2024).