O Fantasma

Rating:
Summary: ***TOO MUCH AND NOT ENOUGH*** O FANTASMA!
Review: AGAIN I TOOK A CHANCE & BOUGHT A DVD WITHOUT FIRST HAVING SEEN IT. ITS' SUBJECT--A YOUNG MANS' SAME-SEX ESCAPADES ABOUT TOWN IN LISBON, PORTUGAL--SEEMS QUITE PROVOCATIVE WHEN BUYING A FILM. I MUST SAY ITS MAIN CHARACTER--SERGIO--WAS A DELIGHT TO WATCH & A GREAT CHOICE FOR THIS FILM AS HE POSSESSES THAT "BRANDOESQUE", UNTAMED SEX-APPEAL THAT CAN'T BE TAUGHT OR LEARNED. THE WAY HE SUCCUMBED TO HIS SEXUAL PROCLIVITIES WITH SUCH SELF-ABANDON WAS TRULY BELIEVABLE IF NOT RISQUE & DISTURBING. THE FILM STARTS OUT WITH WHAT APPEARS TO BE SOME FORM OF S&M & PROGRESSES TO ANONYMOUS SEXUAL ENCOUNTERS IN A CAR & A PUBLIC RESTROOM. MIND YOU, THESE ENCOUNTERS ARE STRICTLY CARNAL & DEVOID OF ANY IDEALIZATION OF SEXUALITY ITSELF. ALL THE WHILE SERGIO MADLY OBSESSES OVER A DUDE THAT FINDS HIS STALKING BEHAVIOR ANNOYING AND INCOMPREHENSIBLE. THIS DOESN'T DETER SERGIO AS HE PROCEEDS DEEPER INTO HIS SEXUAL DILEMMA. THE GUY BECOMES A "PHANTOM" IN SERGIOS' PSYCHE; THE MORE HE AVOIDS & REFUSES SERGIOS' ADVANCES THE DEEPER SERGIO FALLS INTO HIS SELF-CREATED ABYSS. THE OVERALL SCENERY OF THE FILM IS DARK & DESOLATE WHICH HELPED TO ISOLATE & AMPLIFY SERGIOS' TROUBLED STATE OF MIND. OVERALL, THE FILM WAS NOT ALL BAD BUT "TOO MUCH & NOT ENOUGH". KUDOS TO RICARDO MENESES ON HIS DEBUT; HE ALONE MADE THIS FILM MEMORABLE.

Rating:
Summary: Doesn't Compare To A Night A the OLD NYC Eagle
Review: An extremely pretty boy garbage man TRAMPS it up all over town. The bathroom scene is sexy but I don't think that is the lead actor getting worked on. Body double if you ask me.
My problem with this flick is that I don't believe the lead at all. Brad Pitt would be more believable in this role.
There is NOTHING grungy about the boy...it's like trying to imagine CLAY AIKEN getting up to no good.
When your dull as dishwater like Clay, well...it's hard to imagine you in all these sexy situations even when you are play acting at doing them.
And frankly I used to get up to much worse at the old NYC Eagle. This dude has nothing on me.

Rating:
Summary: Wow a Portuguese Gay Movie...
Review: As a Portuguese guy it was interesting to find a gay Portuguese movie....it is strange but also interesting. A young "Lisboeta" falling for some one he cannot have....i think it's happened to all of us atleast once. His fettish is a bit out there...but hey to each-his-own.

Rating:
Summary: Shocking Expose of Homophobic Community
Review: Countries that maintain stiff macho, anti-homosexual laws leave theirselves open to the kind of result depicted in "O Fantasma."A case in point was Germany, especially under Nazisim, and other homophobic countries like that of "O Fantasma." How sad a result: our anti-hero is so frustrated with pent-up sexual emotion that he becomes crazed with one-track attention. Going from repression and confusion to blatant animalistic activities, he embodies the consequences of a society trying to maintain its male population in particular. However, such repression affects females too in a direct way, as demonstrated in our anti-hero's physical abuse of women.A cautionary tale, "O Fantasma" graphically demonstrates the dire consequences of homosexual repression, particularly as backed up by laws. It's a crucial message that should be heeded by everyone. Therefore, "O Fantasma" becomes a highly significant and important film work.

Rating:
Summary: Truly Strange!!!
Review: First, let me say I am giving this completely unorthodox film four stars because I can't stop thinking about it. I'm not really sure I liked it, but I will say it is pretty daring in its approach to what can loosely be called "storytelling." There is very little dialogue, so we don't learn much about the characters, particularly Sergio, the central character, by what they say. Their actions are the primary sources of information into their unusual psyches. Sergio, a very attractive but deeply disturbed young man, is in the midst of a psychological meltdown, but I don't think his bizarre behaviour fully explains what is going on deep in his soul. The minimalist approach of the filmmaker in depicting Sergio's descent seems intent on providing slightly less information than we need to know. Perhaps the idea of this approach is to leave viewers in the dark just enough to be haunted by the film's imagery long after it is over. Maybe this film is an indictment of promiscuous gay sex, but then again, maybe it's an endorsement. I say this because there is an insidiously sexy edge to this work that snuck up on me and wouldn't let go. It's both seductive and repulsive at the same time. A very interesting, but perhaps not altogether successful endeavor. Yet, I highly recommend it!

Rating:
Summary: male body
Review: For the first time in a very long time, I found a movie that's not affraid to show male frontal nudity. Most movies don't waste time showing the female body but this movie shows it all.

Rating:
Summary: male body
Review: For the first time in a very long time, I found a movie that's not affraid to show male frontal nudity. Most movies don't waste time showing the female body but this movie shows it all.

Rating:
Summary: male body
Review: For the first time in a very long time, I found a movie that's not affraid to show male nudity. Most movies don't waste time showing the female body but this movis show it all.

Rating:
Summary: Nice looking cast but...
Review: I read a number of good reviews of this film so I ordered the DVD. It's a bit slow and the story line is not really followed through. A few explicit scenes and a good looking cast do not a good film make. The Director's commentary is also quite bizarre but at least explains two or three scenes that seem to cut midway through forcing you to wonder whether your DVD player's skipped a scene! Pleasant but not really worth the above average price.

Rating:
Summary: Yes it is good!
Review: I, like others I have been reading recently, am enamoured with this film but not exactly sure why. Joao Pedro Rodrigues does a fantastic job of directing a very different type of film. The thing that stands out in my mind is the unabashed sex scene (one in particular) that seems to border on unconventional. In all my years of watching gay and gay themed films I have NEVER seen anything like it and this film doesn't make apologies. The scenes are important to the story. I actually will buy this film as it is a good addition to my ecclectic library.