A short trip to Spain opens the eyes of a young Singaporean
(half-Spanish) man to relationships, and, as the title suggests, a realm where
conventional lines are blurred. Juan, by virtue of his mixed heritage, is
fundamentally caught in between different cultures and affinities and fits the
role of a person who is in search of something balancing point. To fins out
more about his mother who died suddenly, he takes a trip to Barcelona where his
Spanish roots are found. This is where he meets 2 friends who bring to him a
different perspective towards life.
The 2 friends are a couple and they love to party. The girl
shares that it is in their blood to party and they would find a reason to party
everyday, even when things get heavy. Not a bad piece of advice for a
straight-laced Singaporean. And so, loosing his Singaporean need for rules and
habits, he gives in to the alcohol-filled, waking-up-on-the-sofa brand of
Spanish bohemia.
Edwin Ho, the director displays a sensitivity towards human
interaction in the way he initiates Juan into their lives – curiously, yet
skeptically and very naturally. What we see is an un-engineered rubbing of
energies. Juan comes in as a outsider but melds into the life of the couple in
no time. Both the male and female half of the couple warm up to Juan, sometimes
with a tinge of sexual tension but never falling into the trap of a love
triangle cliché. The most memorable part of the film is when the girl fails to
get a train home to see her ailing mum and comes home in tears. Both men
comfort her and they end up in an ambiguous three-party romp, reminiscent of
Boo Junfeng’s ‘A Family Portrait’ that tells of family that operates on a
ménage-a-trois.
This ‘grey’ approach to love, is it an enlightened view of a
‘Bohemian’ culture or the director’s mature and intuitive approach towards
directing his actors? It seems like a combination of both, making this short
film a subtle yet potent sangria. Sweet too.
Review by Jeremy Sing
This film was first screened at Substation's First Takes in 2013
Review by Jeremy Sing
This film was first screened at Substation's First Takes in 2013