Written and directed by Manuel Abramovich, co-written by Fernando Krapp and Pío Longo, Lalo is a sex-influencer: he posts photos of his naked body and homemade porn videos for his thousands of followers on social networks. Starring: Lalo Santos, Diablo, El Indio Brayan, Adrián Zuki, Netito and Chacalito Regio.
The topic of the emptiness of fame and popularity only becomes increasingly relevant with time. The idea of how the advancement in social media makes you simultaneously more and less connected to other people. Creating a vast void of short attention spans and meaningless commentary or compliments. Pornomelancholia captures those issues within the context of pornography and influencer culture, which makes it even more heightened with the endless options for people to make themselves and their work available to pretty much the entire world.
In that sense, the film has something interesting to say, and even more so when it has the characters discussing the more difficult aspects of their work, family and health. There are some nicely done ruminations on life that appear between them filming various sex scenes. They add moments of warmth in what is otherwise, and intentionally so, a cold, isolated atmosphere. However, there are a few choices which dampen the style, particularly integrating the use of socials into the screen. It gives a share my screen vibe which is too simple and clunky.
Whereas the performance from Lalo Santos captures the larger complexity of the issues and the intense internal conflict and insecurities within the character. It’s only a shame there isn’t really the space to get to know Santos’ character, to delve more into his larger life and past. However, what we do get to see gives us this strong, self-assured man who’s also riddled with quandaries and questions.
Pornomelancholia is led by a compelling performance from Lalo Santos and has an interesting comment to make about influencer culture and its deceptively lonely nature. The subjects its touching upon are interesting but it doesn’t really delve deep enough. The atmosphere and direction capture the conflict and have a strong bluntness to them, but the story feels underdeveloped. Although the title is plenty of a warning, the sexual scenes do pretty much take over the film so anyone not comfortable with a great deal of sex and nudity all throughout the film, this isn’t for you.
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