Film rating: 4/5
Walkouts: 3/5
Pretentious clapping at credits: 0/5
BPM sighting: Yes

What is a hormonal teen in the middle of small-town Patagonia to do?

Informed by director Alexis Dos Santos’ own youth, the energetic and sensual Glue represents the emergence of another exciting, new Argentinian filmmaker.

The focus of the film is a budding singer/songwriter, the skinny and androgynous 16-year-old Lucas. His best friend is drummer Nacho: Quieter, better-looking, more jock-like. The pair are very close. Unsurprisingly, sex is uppermost in their minds and Lucas’ inchoate attraction to Nacho fuels the kinds of prankish games beloved by teens worldwide.

Awkwardness and sexual confusion have been seen before in the context of growing up but Dos Santos goes beyond the norm, introducing an engaging element of subjectivity.

An organic and raw picture of adolescence, both specific and universal.

This film’s audience was weird. Bicycle Pump Man was there; his new best friend, Bum Bag Man (gaudy jumpers and black leather bum bag worn at the front) was there; and a whole bunch of people who must’ve been film festival virgins were there.

I thought the film was quite good (4/5 is a high score for me) but there was a determined stream of walkouts from about the halfway point of the movie. The two middle aged salarymen sitting behind me gave a top-of-voice running commentary during the film (”I don’t get it”, “When’s something going to happen?”, “The picture’s funny”) and announced their film review to the whole cinema as soon as the credits rolled (”What a wank! I could’ve made that!”) I nearly turned around and offered them a camera.

But back to the film. This was a gentle and realistic character study of youth in rural Argentina. Brilliantly acted and with atmospheric cinematography I was strongly drawn into the story. Shot on video, at first the high contrast and crushed blacks pissed me off but I quickly adapted to the style and found it added to the presentation. The handheld camera and long, unedited shots pushed the superb acting to the fore and helped the audience form a personal connection with the characters.

The film had its flaws but overall it was a highly satisfying cinema experience, despite the rest of the people in the Greater Union theatre who must’ve bought tickets for Transformers but got lost after having their tickets checked.