Victor Luvi | Longe de Cuidade (Far from the City) / 2022

the return of the prince

by Douglas Messerli

 

Victor Luvi (screenwriter and director) Longe de Cuidade (Far from the City) / 2022 [24 minutes]

 

Telemílênio’s production of Brazilian director Victor Luvi’s Far from the City is a soap-opera fairy tale about a gay man Sávio (Zeck Allves) who has been almost imprisoned in his own father’s home by an evil step-mother Sandra (Bela Lima) who has not only claimed the house after the father’s death, but taken the son’s money left to him by his father.  

     We know the young boy is gay because he sports pink hair and pink shorts, His mean step-mom has just ordered him to clean the floors and dust the walls of their country home, jobs for which he has no time since her central role in life, so she believes, is to attract all the straight men she meets. Sandra challenges him for questioning why he’s never before heard of this new relative of hers? And he expresses his longing for his dead father, which further arouses her anger. She was never meant to be a mother to replace what he has lost!

      She’s expecting a nephew from a wealthy brother or sister of whom she’s never mentioned to  her step-son. And she wants things to be perfect for his arrival. The boy cleans house, but then quickly runs off to his best female friend Fernanda (Elaine Dias)—all troubled gay boys in LGBTQ movies have a best female friend, the species of which once was brutally described as “fag hags”—to whom he tells everything in return for her support. She’s about to leave on her way to a school, having won a scholarship, but she’s worried about leaving him alone with the monstrous Sandra. While they’re talking about the situation, a hunky young man with a suitcase comes by asking for the location of the very property in which Sávio lives, Riacho Grande.

       He points out the direction as if he might be some other house than the one in which lives, although after the young Prince moves on, Fernanda sighs, claiming she has found the man she has been looking for all her life—even though a moment before she was describing her new boyfriend. And finally, even Sávio admits he is most attracted to the newcomer.

       Renan makes his way to the gate where Sandra greets him, more interested in how he’s changed and grown up, evidently, than in letting him in or, despite his several mentions that he’s sweaty, suggesting a drink or even a shower. Renan must finally ask to be invited in.

       Finally, when Renan returns, Sandra orders him to make dinner, but they’re out of gas for which she blames him.

        Renan sits outside in a pout with bare chested Renan coming to his side to ask if he’s okay, but Sávio dare not complain. Renan tells him that Sandra was not spoken of well in his house, and was seen as a slacker. But Sávio is afraid she might hear. And indeed, Sandra is watching, wondering what the two boys have found in common and determining almost immediately to rectify the situation. The two hug, and Renan assures him that at least while he’s there he has a friend.

       Renan finally gets his shower, but Sandra stands nearby, a voyeur, stroking her stomach in obvious desire.

       Later that evening, Renan enters Sávio’s bedroom to continue their conversation of earlier on. Sávio admits that she makes his life hell, but is afraid that if she discovers Renan in his room she will throw a tantrum. As if to further allow his friend room to breathe, he tells him that in his family her nickname is “fast panties,” which delights the both of them. Renan asks if she’s ever attempted to “come on” to him, but Sávio only laughs saying that she hates him and besides…he pauses, Renan filling in the words, “What? Don’t you like women?” He admits but suggests that no one needs to know it, and Renan promises to keep his secret, adding “I can tell you a secret: me too!”  But they realize she may be listening in (she is in fact), and they quietly plan to meet a short time later outdoors.

     I’m so glad that that Luvi included this scene so that we truly know these boys were gay. I can’t imagine how we might have even suspected it previously!

     Renan waits on the nearby park bench but Sávio does not show up, Sandra having locked him in. Instead, Sandra herself appears, at first simply praising his looks, but quickly attempting to seduce him. When Renan finally reveals he not at all interested in her and that he has been waiting for Sávio, she suddenly opens her purse, pulls out a knife and goes after him. Doesn’t every evil stepmother carry a knife in her purse?

       In the next scene we see a discussion between Sávio and Fernanda in which he reports that Sandra attacked Renan and has confessed to having done something similar to his father. Renan is in the hospital, his family having come to take him home when he’s better. He admits that he has not seen Renan since and doesn’t even know what hospital or in what city Renan is. Fernanda admits that she is sad about leaving at this very time, but Sávio admits he’s just obtained a job and will work to save up enough money in order to escape.

      Sometime later, Sávio is working at his new job behind the counter when Renan suddenly appears. The two greet and talk, Sávio taking his break. The two continue their conversation, Sávio amazed that Renan came back, hardly able to resist asking why, in the first place was Renan was sent to his aunt. Renan admits that his mother found out he was gay and sent him away from the city. After a great deal of hesitation, Sávio finally admits that he had imagined, in his times of deepest loneliness somehow living with Renan.

       Renan claims he wished he too have been there to take away Sávio’s fears. The two kiss intensely, Renan suggesting that his friend will now be late for his lunch break. Sávio wonders where he is now going, and Renan says while they were kissing he stole the key to his house and will be waiting there when Sávio finishes work. The pink-haired boy, it seems, has found his Prince.

       This work is so negligible that I can’t suggest you rush out to see it, but since it’s fairly difficult to find I don’t imagine that many will be seeking it out. IMDb doesn’t even list it. I have kept my promise to try to be as thorough as I can.

 

Los Angeles, September 4, 2022

Reprinted from World Cinema Review (September 2022).