(2025, 100 min)
Country: Brazil
Director: Daniel Ribeiro
Studio: Dark Star Pictures
Language: Portuguese w/Subtitles
SYNOPSIS: After a decade-long relationship ends, aspiring filmmaker Joao (Artur Volpi) finds himself at a crossroads in both his personal and professional life. While trying to break into the film industry, he ends up settling for a job directing amateur erotic films. As he tries to maintain a complicated friendship with his ex, he embarks on a dating journey with the support of his loyal friends. Joao may have issues, but he soon learns that patience and a positive outlook can get you closer to the perfect ending everyone desires. From Daniel Ribeiro, the director behind the beloved gay romance The Way He Looks, Perfect Endings is a tender, erotic and sweetly satisfying romantic crowd-pleaser.
REVIEW:
Joao (Artur Volpi) is a 32-year-old filmmaker living in San Paulo, who after ending his 10-year relationship with Hugo (they didn't live together and they're still texting friends), turns to dating apps in search of another boyfriend.
His screenplay is delayed by his production company. Tired of editing boring institutional and educational films, he finds success as a cameraman filming private couples having sex in amateur arty porn films, some of whom invite him into the action which he declines.
His hookups disappoint him so he incorporates aspects of his dating life into his scripts. He processes his dejected life with besties Alice and Chico in umpteen coffee klatches, who remind him of his tendency to idealize the past and forget bad experiences. The film feels like a sitcom at times, though not hysterically funny.
It has a bright, breezy feel to it, but "Perfect Endings," lacks the emotional depth its original title promised us. It's certainly watchable, but a letdown in light of the superb "Way He Looks."
Review by Brian Bromberger, Bay Area Reporter (https://www.ebar.com/)
