While American LGBT cinema remains a demure affair, with few films tackling the intricacies of queer sexual intimacy, Latin America is all too happy to pick up the slack. Following in the footsteps of projects like Futuro Beach, Burnt Money, and Plan B, Filipe Matzembacher and Marcio Reolon’s Tinta bruta (Hard Paint) is looking to plunge viewers straight into the world of online camming. Our intro to this lurid world is Pedro aka NeonBoy (breakout star Shico Menegat). The curly-haired waif is left to his own devices in Porto Alegre, Brazil once his sister, like many in the neighborhood, flees the fledgling city. To earn some cash and connect to the world outside, he puts on glow-in-the-dark paint-splattered shows for anyone who’ll watch. His sensuous dances are soon copied by an equally lithe performer. But rather than compete for an audience with his copy-cat web-cam chatter, he opts to invite him over.
Their erotic meeting, and the shows they begin performing together set the stage for the unraveling narrative that follows, which includes a possible eviction, a court date, and plenty of on-camera writhing. With splashes of neon contrasting with the bleak washed out color palette of Porto Alegre, this Teddy Award-winning LGBT film chronicles what happens when an isolated young gay man seemingly finds a community that embraces him. It’s an invitation that, as Matzembacher and Reolon suggest, can be as seductive as it is dangerous. Check out the full come-hither trailer below.