Sebastián Silva’s satirical thriller blurs the line between reality and illusion that fuels social media.
In his new movie, the Chilean filmmaker Sebastián Silva plays a version of himself locked in a self-loathing spiral. Mired in a creative pit, Sebastián is snorting drugs in his Mexico City apartment, reading E.M. Cioran’s “The Trouble With Being Born” and doing web searches for “suicide by Pentobarbital.” In need of a change, he travels to a bacchanalian gay beach, where he meets the writer and Instagram influencer Jordan Firstman (also playing a refracted version of himself). It’s not long before the ebulliently opportunistic Jordan pitches a show: “‘Curb Your Enthusiasm,’ but positive.” Eventually, Sebastián invites him to his place in the city for some writing sessions.
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 captures — often graphically — mechanically hedonistic lives dominated by an insatiable need for instant gratification and almost entirely filtered through social media. “Rotting in the Sun” is sharpest when exploring the two men’s love-loathe connection because Silva threads a provocatively fuzzy line between fascination for and irritation with Jordan and, by extension, Firstman himself. Reflecting that push-pull, he invites Sebastián to “come meet my friends — you’ll hate them.”
But the movie loses both focus and edge when it switches to a low-boil showdown between Jordan and Sebastián’s housekeeper, Señora Vero (a great turn from the Silva regular Catalina Saavedra, who starred in his breakout film, “The Maid”). By the end, it’s the film’s point that has turned murky.
Rotting in the Sun
Not rated. Running time: 1 hour 49 minutes. In theaters.
Source: Movies - nytimes.com
