Four Moons [Cuatro Lunas] *** (2014, Antonio Velázquez, Alejandro de la Madrid, César Ramos, Gustavo Egelhaaf, Alonso Echánove, Alejandro Belmonte, Karina Gidi, Juan Manuel Bernal) – Classic Movie Review 12,421

The intelligent and entertaining 2014 Mexican gay-themed drama film Four Moons [Cuatro Lunas] tells four loosely interwoven and intricately complex love stories on the theme of self-acceptance, all of them successful!

Writer-director Sergio Tovar Velarde’s intelligent and entertaining 2014 Mexican gay-themed drama film Four Moons [Cuatro Lunas] stars Antonio Velázquez, Alejandro de la Madrid, César Ramos, Gustavo Egelhaaf, Alonso Echánove, Alejandro Belmonte, Karina Gidi and Juan Manuel Bernal.

It tells four loosely interwoven and intricately complex love stories on the theme of self-acceptance, all of them successful! This multi-drama idea is always hard to fulfil, and it is commendable that this one does so satisfyingly, with the right amount of chunky running time (one hour 50 minutes) to do it. It is strong and specific, raunchy in places in a way Anglo Saxon films would shrink from, and has quite a gritty edge till it gets a tiny bit sentimental as the stories reach their conclusions. But it still keeps its edge, freshness and air of surprise throughout as the stories are played out in intercut scenes.

It focuses on the male characters of course, though, unusually, these are masculine but sensitive kinds of males who are experiencing emotional breakdowns, while the female characters are painted in a very sympathetic light too, shown as strong and supportive. The world seems complicated and tricky to negotiate, but everything is going to be okay. It’ll all work out somehow, and probably for the best. Yes, the film is optimistic and hopeful, and eventually, after a sea of troubles, it is happy.

There is not one weak link in the well-fashioned chain: (1) two male college students, lifelong buddies from childhood, meet up again and start a sexual and emotional relationship which must be secret because one of them doesn’t want anyone else to know about it, driving a huge wedge between them; (2) a nice, smart, together 11-year-old boy is secretly attracted to his slightly older male cousin and makes disastrous moves in his direction; (3) a committed long-term couple are tested when one falls for another man and the other one falls to pieces; and (4) an older married poet, about to receive an award finally, is obsessed with a young married rent boy, who is saving up to get back to his family.

The cast are Antonio Velázquez as Hugo, Alejandro de la Madrid as Andrés, César Ramos as Fito, Gustavo Egelhaaf as Leo, Alonso Echánove as Joaquín, Alejandro Belmonte as Gilberto, Karina Gidi as Laura, Gabriel Santoyo as Mauricio, Sebastián Rivera as Oliver, Juan Manuel Bernal as Héctor, Marta Aura as Petra, Mónica Dionne as Aurora, Astrid Hadad as Alfonsina, Hugo Catalán as Sebastián, Jorge Luis Moreno as Enrique, Luis Arrieta as Alfredo, Laura de Ita as Amanda, Joaquín Rodríguez as Bruno, Marisol Centeno as Mariana, Alejandra Ley as Tania, Héctor Arredondo as the priest, Ricardo Polanco as Rolando, Renato Bartilotti as Doctor, Oscar Olivares as Alejandro and Martín Barba as Pepe.

© Derek Winnert 2023 – Classic Movie Review 12,421

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