Sarita Rafferty
There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.
BILLYBOY-10
Middle age teacher falls for young student, ends up getting eaten by same, then burned and skeleton hanged from tree. Delightful. Sick minds making movies.
elxacal
Summary: In a forest on the outskirts of Barcelona, couples (and groups) of various persuasions and inclinations meet for sexual congress. Also in this forest, there exists a group of broken-hearted cannibals who seek either revenge or eternal love (or perhaps both) by eating the lovers who jilted them. It is in this forest where our protagonists Carlos, a university instructor of Chinese, and Toni, one of his students and also a member of the group of jilted cannibals, meet, have a sexual liaison in the back of Carlos' car, and then part company. Carlos intends for this to be a one-time exchange. Toni, on the other hand, hopes for more. Neither Carlos' nor Toni's motivations are explored beyond the backseat of Carlos' car. Carlos somewhat coldly rebuffs Toni's further pursuit. Despite his sexual infatuation, Toni enlists the assistance of his group of heartbroken cannibal friends to do what they do. One night, Toni asks Carlos for a ride home from school. When Carlos' car won't start, three of Toni's cannibal friends happen by and offer to drive Carlos and Toni home. The quartet of horny cannibals taunt Carlos into inviting them in for a drink. Carlos, either not sensing danger, or perhaps drawn by it, agrees to bring the whole party home. After Toni and Carlos engage in one final sexual exchange (Spoiler: Carlos is versatile, in an equal-opportunity kind of way, i.e. he flips with gusto), the other cannibals come into the post-coital bedroom, Toni bonks Carlos on the head with a blunt object, Carlos regains consciousness only to find himself chained down, Toni stabs Carlos in the heart, then engages in an act of eternal love by eating Carlos' heart while the rest of the cannibals consume the rest of Carlos. They then leave Carlos' burned remains hanging in the forest to be found. The End. I experienced this delightfully uplifting film presented as part of the Newfest Queer Horror Night, though Mr.Forés appears to fancy it as more of a love story thana horror film. For me, this film failed on both counts. Forés' work suffers by projecting image and mood over coherent narrative. Where thebest horror films are grounded in some degree of plausible reality,Forés' work suffers by failing to develop a realistic context in whichthe acts of extreme horror occur. The forest seems like an unreal'otherworld' from the beginning. The film also fails to develop anyempathy for, or identification with, or understanding of the protagonists. They are little more than sex-driven zombies. Thus the viewer is left with unsympathetic characters in an implausible context, to be bombarded by the director's visual and aural whimsy. The sex is not sexy, the graphic is not particularly extreme, and the horror is mostly banal. In the after-film Q&A, Mr.Forés attempted to invoke Dalí's supposed quote that "Cannibalism is one of the surest signs of affection." as inspiration for this mercifully brief (69-minute...69 HA! I get it!) snuff film. Forés seems however to have divorced Dalí's metaphor for the Spanish Civil War from its context, and in Amor Eterno serves the notion raw and literal. Unfortunately, appropriating an outrageous verbal confection by Dalí is not nearly enough to elevate this failed video project into art.
sugarfreepeppermint
This film from the director who made Animals (2012), replicates the same quietly brooding atmosphere as aforementioned film. A shy introvert teenage boy accidentally crosses paths with his teacher in a cruising area in the local woods, and thereafter attempts to strike up a love affair with him. The romance that ensues is of a tenebrous kind. Moreover, strange secondary characters and bizarre incidents foreshadow something gloomy to occur.There are two scenes in the film, that can be considered Indie music videos. These two featured songs make for nice little sidescapes from the main mood of the film, whilst suiting the narrative perfectly.
