MQFF REVIEW: The Last Match (2013, Dir. Antonio Hens)

If there's something to be said for queer cinema outside the United States, it is that its preoccupations are broader. While coming out and self-acceptance issues still feature prominently, there is interest to be had in the intersection of these experiences with, shall we say, less self-centred concepts.

Cuban drama, The Last Match (La partida) is the perfect example. Ostensibly a film about two football playing friends who start hitting the "rough and tumble" off the field, The Last Match also delves deep into how race and socio-economic status affects the boys, their relationships and their aspirations for the future.

There's a distinct energy to Antonio Hens' direction. His film pumps along, rarely taking time to draw breath. Its momentum is fired by Havana's energy and the electric chemistry of the two leads, Milton García and Reinier Díaz. Their sexual negotiations, with themselves, their tricks, their girlfriends and each other, keeps the film in an interesting flux.

Performances from the predominantly amateur cast are roundly excellent, as is the camerawork by Yanelvis González and Raúl Rodríguez. In fact, it is only Hens' capitulation to a predictably dramatic ending that eventually drags the film down. Hens and his co-writer Abel González Melo take up a well worn route and, little by little, strip the film of interest.

The Last Match offers something a little different, at least through its first half. It's a shame it didn't make more of its strengths in the end but its no slouch when all is said and don't. Certainly worth checking out.

★★★

Trailer:

The Last Match screened as part of the 2014 Melbourne Queer Film Festival.