This movie was simply weird. I went in really wanting to like it, but the pretentious, overly poetic atmosphere, along with the choppy editing that jumps back and forth in little five- to ten-second bursts, made the whole thing feel stretched out for absolutely no reason. It was way too self-indulgent, if you ask me. Honestly, this could've been cut into a fifteen-minute short without losing a thing. I also still have no idea what was going on with the women dancing along the beach while this overwrought, flowery narration played over it. The story moves at a snail's pace toward a confrontation you can spot coming from a mile away, and it only gets more boring as it approaches. By the time it finally happened, I'd completely checked out as a viewer, even though the film has two genuinely good-looking guys in the lead roles. The premise is pretty straightforward. Lorena and Diego are attempting to make a new life for themselves in a small coastal town, both anxiously beginning new jobs—she's a baker and he's a teacher. Separately, they each meet a thoughtful young man named Vicente, and his love of art pulls them both toward him. Lorena brings him into a film project she's working on, while Diego is drawn to him in a way that makes it increasingly difficult to keep burying his attraction to men, something that has quietly been straining his marriage all along. So as Diego and Vicente begin something on the side, with Diego constantly doubting himself and never fully embracing it,…

I am somewhat unsure if this should be classified as a film or a documentary, but because it has appeared at several doc festivals, I will label it a documentary for the time being. The premise follows a filmmaker who moves to Chicago after his older boyfriend loses interest in him; once there, he uses dating apps to find new men for a loose, undefined project investigating attachment, compatibility, and attraction—a concept his mother apparently cannot stand. After sitting through the seventy something minutes, I found the experience to be completely aimless, a sentiment that even the creators themselves seem to acknowledge. While the work does pose some genuinely hard questions, they feel less like intentional inquiries and more like natural byproducts of attempting to navigate intimacy without anyone ever setting clear boundaries. After splitting from his older boyfriend, Bethel moves to Chicago to start a new life. He has a vague desire to launch a film project, though he lacks any actual concept for it. To begin, he filters through his Grindr matches and invites roughly twelve men to meet him in person. These discussions, which take place in Bethel's studio, cover a vast range of topics, from how Grindr has altered their dating methods and the way their libidos fade over time to their sexual preferences, their specific subcultures, and general views on art. The vibe of these meetings mirrors a first date almost perfectly—flirtatious and disjointed, occasionally awkward, before abruptly becoming sharp and overtly sexual. The film grows even more experimental as each man is given a…