MOVIE INFO VIA ROTTEN TOMATOES:
Writer-director Sebastián Silva’s Sundance hit ROTTING IN THE SUN is a darkly funny and refreshingly audacious meta-comedy that skewers the business of filmmaking and our self-obsessed culture. While unwinding at a Mexican gay beach town, depressed director Sebastián Silva meets gregarious Instagram influencer Jordan Firstman (both playing versions of themselves), and Sebastián reluctantly agrees to collaborate on an upcoming project. But when Jordan arrives back in Mexico City, Sebastián is nowhere to be found. Jordan dances, sleeps and snorts his way through the city as he embarks on a quasi-detective journey to get to the bottom of Sebastián’s disappearance.
REVIEW:
When a director and a comic influencer decide to play dark satiric version of themselves in Rotting in the Sun a lot of meta rises to the surface until it ripens and rots in satire that’s never really funny or really connects. What is left is a passable version of a maid (Catalina Saavedra) trying to cover up an accidental crime while a dimwitted gay American sobs the streets of Mexico City trying to solve it.
Chilean filmmaker and Covid lockdown Instagram influencer Sebastian Silva and Jordan Firstman are stuck playing their warped meta selves. Silva had the wisdom to have himself bow out halfway through leaving Firstman to dawdle and mug aimlessly. He is a suicidal and Firstman is a hysterical romantic. The only one who saves her dignity and screen credentials is Catalina Saavedra who steers Rotting in the Sun away from its meta to a grounded procedural reality. The film until then was being swallowed up by its constant drug and un-simulated gay sex, most of it showcasing uncircumcised penises, something not even real porn likes to feature.
The movie’s title works in both a literal and a metaphorical way. The first involves a spoiler, so let’s just say that a major twist redirects the story just before the halfway mark.
The metaphorical interpretation explains the need for all the un-simulated gay sex. It’s about hedonistic compulsive individuals whose lives are dominated by an insatiable need for instant gratification and social media exposure. This love-loathe connection between Silva and Firstman constantly breaches the line between sexual fascination and emotional irritation. When Silva exits half way through it’s a blessing in disguise for a film that needed a good dose of self-correction.
Rotting in the Sun gets a 3/5 or a B. It’s streaming on Mubi.
CREDITS:
Directed by
Written by
- Sebastián Silva
- Pedro Peirano
Produced by
Jacob Wasserman
Starring
- Jordan Firstman
- Sebastián Silva
- Catalina Saavedra
Cinematography
Gabriel Diaz Alliende
Edited by
- Gabriel Diaz Alliende
- Sofia Subercaseaux
- Santiago Cendejas
Music by
Nascuy Linares
Production
companies
- Hidden Content
- The Lift Films
- Caffeine Post
- Icki Eneo Arlo
- Spacemaker Productions
Distributed by
Release dates
- January 22, 2023(Sundance)
- September 8, 2023(United States)
Running time
109 minutes[1]
Countries
Languages
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