The Blonde One (2019) User Reviews

Superb acting

[clark-96172 · 8/10 · 10 November 2019]

Awesome movie. Really enjoyed it. Great acting, great chemistry between the main characters.

The only negative I really have is that much like the overwhelming majority of gay films, it just gives off the impression that we can't be in happy, successful, and non-toxic relationships. It always ends badly.

But otherwise a really great film

Well Done, But Frustrating

[jaiofchi · 8/10 · 5 June 2020]

This film is definitely worth seeing. It is very well crafted, from the cinematography to the acting. We get a front row seat to the dysfunctional and frustrating relationship between flat mates Gabo and Juan. There are a lot of drawn-out scenes of friends socializing and pensive looks from across the room and some may find this to be boring and overly long. The frustration factor in this story is high as Gabo continually gets emotionally abused by Juan and always comes back for more, never uttering a word of protest. The surprise ending only adds to the frustration. The actor who plays Gabo, Gaston Re, is outstanding. He conveys so much emotion in his looks with very little dialogue throughout the story. I just wish he would have fought back a bit and put Juan in his place.

Very slow, very quiet

[euroGary · 7/10 · 12 May 2019]

Gabo (Gastón Re) is the kind of person who is buffeted by life's events. His wife dies, so the young father deposits his daughter with her grandparents and moves to Buenos Aires where he takes a job in a carpentry workshop. He rents a room in the flat of a colleague, Juan (Alfonso Barón). Juan has a number of slobby friends who frequently and unexpectedly visit, making the already messy flat even messier. Gabo uncomplainingly cleans up after them (when he is not prone on his bed reading). Even after he and Juan start a sexual relationship (the only time in the film Gabo takes the initiative), Gabo looks on, uncomplaining as ever, while Juan continues bedding not only his girlfriend but also, perhaps, another man.

'The Blond One' is 108 minutes long and - perhaps because I saw the film in the very crowded cinema of the British Film Institute's 'Flare' festival for LGBTQ+ films - feels every one of them. There are several shots of the carpentry workshop, of Gabo watering his plants, and of groups of men engaged in inconsequential chatter. They undeniably set the tone of the film (slow), but there should have been fewer of them. Not helping matters is central character Gabo's personality: he is *so* quiet, *so* unobtrusive, that it is almost as if he is not there half the time. On the plus side, Re does a competent job of portraying Gabo's hurt with bewildered looks (and does not let his status as co-producer excuse him from his fair share of the film's nudity duties). Barón, who according to his IMDb listing is an inexperienced actor, provides a good naturalistic performance.

In conclusion, this film is worth watching, but its slowness and quietness means it is the kind of film for which you really have to be in the right mood.

Stunning filmmaking and a superb cast

[murraybuesst · 9/10 · 28 March 2019]

I saw this film at the BFI Flare LGBTQ+ festival earlier today and was blown away. Quite simply, it is superb filmmaking at the very highest level, with extraordinarily subtle performances from the two leads. Director Marco Berger presents the story of a love affair in a series of uninflected, mostly static shots, letting the camera linger on characters' faces as they register attraction, desire, frustration, jealousy and love. In less skilled hands it could easily be boring or pretentious, but instead it's riveting ... and at times achingly painful. Both lead actors - Gastón Re playing Gabriel and Alfonso Barón as Juan - are outstanding, as it the girl playing Gabriel's daughter. Gastón Re, in particular, deserves to win multiple awards for his beautifully judged performance. Largely wordless, he brings to life the inner life of the shy, yearning Gabriel so fully that I felt I'd known him for years. If you were affected by Brokeback Mountain or God's Own Country then you will surely appreciate this film. Beyond that, if you admire the work of Ingmar Bergman or Wong Kar-wai or Pawel Pawlikowski then you should go out of your way to see this superb Argentinian film.

Hints and actions say more than words

[laduqesa · 8/10 · 21 April 2021]

Before I get to the film, I'd love to know who on earth translates the titles of South American films into English! We had the disaster of Los Fuertes being translated as The Strong Ones when a competent translation would have been something like The Tough Guys except that the title actually referred to the forts taken by Chilean nationalists in the battle for independence. And here we have The Blond One. It just doesn't work in English. Why not Some Blond Lad/Guy/Fella? Because, at first, that's all Gabriel seemed to be for Juan, some guy. Or even "The Blond Guy"? The title is taken from a line of dialogue in a section when Juan is asked who is going to move in and he says, "The blond one" in the translated subtitles. I think that this is a bad translation. This would normally have been translated as "The blond guy".

After moving in with Juan as a lodger, Gabriel notices that Juan seems to be coming onto him despite his clear hettie proclivities and oikish straight mates. It takes nearly a third of the film before Gabriel gives in and the scene is sensitively and erotically done in the faltering first touches.

They are a couple of handsome lads with good bodies and more importantly, for the development of the plot, straight acting. No one suspects either of them would be up for swinging both ways - Juan has girlfriends coming round and Gabriel is a father. That's the way Juan wants to keep it.

As their relationship deepens it becomes clear that they are looking for different things. One wants stability and fidelity, the other wishes to keep up appearances and to sow wild oats in either direction. There are some pretty hurtful scenes where Gabriel has to keep stum about his feelings.

A few people have commented that the film is long and empty. For me it wasn't. The two leads filled the spaces by body language and looks. We don't have to have dialogue every second. These two guys did a great job of conveying emotion and feelings by suggestion.

The trainline linking the two guys' lives, work, offspring, other lover and friends was a recurring and unifying theme in the story often showing or being mentioned at significant occasions in the plot.

The guys get the futures they wanted - or were destined for - in the end. I found the ending liberating, especially in terms of being gay. I disagree with those who think the ending is pessimistic.

At an hour and fifty minutes, this evocative, languid film was just right.

AN ENGROSSING HUMAN DRAMA

[dannyrovira-38154 · 7/10 · 19 January 2020]

Marco Berger's impressive slow-paced film takes place in the suburbs of Buenos Aires, Argentina where the shy and reserved blondhaired Gabriel, superbly played by Gaston Re, who is gay has just moved in with his handsome widowed colleague with a young daughter, Juan, terrifically played by Alfonso Baron, who is dealing with his grief and coming to terms with latent homosexulity. The film shows the lustful yearning that Gabriel has for the closeted alpha male Juan who is constantly bringing a string of young women with while Gabriel watches from a far. The attraction and sexual tension between the two man is undeniable and they begin a hot sexual relationship that soon turns into heartbreaking love as Gabriel reluctantly allows himself to be dominated and dictated to by the self-centered Juan, who continues to have a relationship with a girlfriend while he beds Gabriel at night. Solid direction by Berger, and striking cinematography by Nahuel Berger. An engrossing human drama.

outstanding

[willeasyer · 8/10 · 18 June 2020]

I missed this feeling while watching a film, That emotional tender you feel in your stomach at the end of a movie. Really beautiful and touching film. it's a plaintive story filled with melancholy its heartening and gladdening moments. This film, which unlike movies like Call me by your name rather than romanticizing love between two men it takes a realistic more relatable approach to it, with the same emotional density. This film is relatable because it portrays how a relationship between two guys from the middle class is, which isn't an easy or a forward situation, it demonstrates how subtle and on guard, the seduction is through perfect and stunning body language that filled the void when the dialogue was absent (acting is perfect), and made us feel how unsettled their couple is, far from the Hollywood mainstream gay or the big cities. As Juan expresses it at some point in the movie " I want a normal life, I don want to be pointed at" so there's this secret and discreet love due to fear of being exposed even if the two live together as roommates. on the other hand, Gabriel is the most interesting character, he has a girl and always seems to keep up with Juan's Duality, his eyes are full of melancholy and tiredness yet his face is comforting and ingenious and he's the most secure. He looks like the guy who's ready to take risks as he keeps up and try to ignore Juan's misadventures with his girlfriend until the point where Juan makes his choice which leaves the two devastated but while Juan is showed on the verge of tear staring at the void after he chooses to settle with his GF, Gab ends up quitting his job, starting over and opening up to his young girl in a stirring and heart-warming scene. A moment that shows a well-deserved resolution for a pure character.

Hot in the closet

[chong_an · 7/10 · 27 May 2019]

In Argentina, when one man invites a co-worker ("the blonde one") to live in a spare room in his apartment, things surprisingly get hot and steamy. But the closeted one want things to otherwise stay the same, unwilling to come out to his friends, who repeatedly visit unannounced, creating a form of coitus interruptus.

I saw this at the Inside Out LGBT film festival, where I'm sure some members of the audience appreciated the attractive leads, action, and nudity. However, the clunky dialogue (as represented by the subtitles) means that this film is likely appealing only to a select audience.

Great acting. It felt true.

[robgarber · 8/10 · 20 October 2019]

I could relate to this story and I think it happens a lot. Two men in love with each other, but at different stages of dealing with their own. I thought the acting was first rate. And the ending, if not happy, at least felt satisfying.

Film Review - The Blonde One (2019) 7.3/10

[lasttimeisaw · 7/10 · 20 September 2020]

"A decade after his debut feature PLAN B (2009), Berger has asserted oneself as a supernal intimist in configuring the game of seduction. Juan, a virile, both-ways-swinging satyr, finds Gabriel a low-hanging fruit and proceeds with his tried-and-tested titillation swimmingly, knowingly stoking Gabriel's thigh on the sly, appearing dishabille in front of him accidentally on purpose, gazing him too long with his lip-smacking gaze. A reactive Gabriel absorbs all the signals in full, it is a matter of time that the two consummate their carnal knowledge, short of 35 minutes into the movie, Gabriel yields to Juan's provocative suggestion, but it is always the nonplussing and awkward post-coitus moments that eke out the intrigue which is crucial to keep audience hooked in this gradualistic probe into the delicate equilibrium between two men who are sexual bedfellows."

read my full review on my blog: cinema omnivore, thanks

Sometimes silence says more than a thousand words

[the_donnie · 10/10 · 2 December 2020]

The quiet scenes could capture all the emotions, sensuality, desire, tension, passion, nervousness and love in the air. Bravo! Both actors are super talented, especially "the blond one". I just enjoyed the whole time watching it, to me it told a love story between two flatmates, the outcome of this story is not as important and amusing as how every details of it happened.

Sexual tension abounds!

[moonspinner55 · 6/10 · 7 September 2022]

Handsome young widower in Buenos Aires rents a room from his co-worker at the factory--a randy but emotionally-detached bisexual who seduces him. Carefully (i.e., slowly) paced gay-themed drama from Argentina's Marco Berger doesn't have much to say on the subject of otherwise-straight men who find themselves in a homosexual affair (except to note that these feelings are repressed, mostly from shame). The widower, whose daughter attends second grade and lives with his mother, is shown to be dating a pretty girl and lives a banal, utterly ordinary existence. His roommate, who scratches his crotch 'absentmindedly' while standing in the room or uses his hands when he doesn't have to, seems to have more experience in this arena--yet both men spend an awful lot of time peeking at each other from the corners of their eyes or stealing glimpses into each other's bedroom. It's titillating, but not telling. Berger gives us a solemn male couple who don't get many opportunities to reveal much about themselves (neither at their job, where nobody speaks, nor at home). It's a very somber picture with a faraway soundtrack and supporting characters who slip in and out of the narrative without much clarity (coitus interruptus at its most benign). The sexual scenes (when they arrive, after much build-up) are uninhibited and quite passionate, but the characters themselves aren't much to get worked about. **1/2 from ****

What we have here is failure to communicate

[denny321 · 4/10 · 20 December 2019]

Gabriel moves into the spare room in his coworker Juan's apartment. Juan wastes time with his idiotic friends. Juan plays around with his girlfriend. Juan plays around with Gabriel.

Blondhaired Gabriel, the man of the title, barely says a word, maintains a blank look and hardly moves throughout the entire film. Juan doesn't say much either; his dialogue consists mainly of "Do you want a beer?" and "Let's get something to eat." But at least he smiles once in a while. Gabriel is a block of wood, with no personality whatsoever.

He lies on his bed reading.

He sits on the couch watching TV.

He rides a train.

He works in a wood shop.

These little slices of nothing, repeated over and over, seem to comprise most of the running time of the film. They'd be fine as counterpoint to actual drama but in between, nothing much happens. Gabriel rarely speaks more than a word and shows no emotion at all, ever. During the sex scenes he's completely passive, practically motionless, and adamantly stonefaced. I don't even think he's breathing hard - if he's breathing at all.

The wood shop scenes are something of a metaphor for the entire film. Gabriel and Juan drill holes in little pieces of wood, and cut them into smaller pieces. There's no finished product, no indication of what they're building, no sense that there's any point to their work. And if the filmmaker is using this to represent something beyond his own poor storytelling skills, there isn't any hint of that either.

It seems we're intended to infer (because he sure won't say it out loud) that Gabriel wants a relationship, and Juan is a jerk because he doesn't. But wait... it's clear from start to finish that Gabriel is staying with Juan only until his mother gets her spare room ready, at which point he'll move in with mom and his young daughter in another town. If he stays with Juan he'll be abandoning his daughter. If he lures Juan into a romance and then leaves... well, who's the jerk now?

All of these subtleties are left to the viewer to figure out, because the guys just plain don't talk about it. Or about anything.

I like artsy films. I like atmospheric films. I even like bleak films, if that bleakness is meant to convey something. In this case, there just doesn't seem to be any underlying philosophy. There's only a filmmaker trying to copy an artsy style without understanding why it worked for someone else.

Communication is the key to a successful relationship. It's also the key to good filmmaking. Unfortunately, there ain't any of that around here.

Beautifully realized

[thefendiprint · 9/10 · 12 July 2020]

This film is quite a gem. I was hesitant going in as I am with most gay films I find, for fear of being let down more than anything, but this film definitely blew my expectations out of the water. While the story isn't necessarily anything we haven't seen before, it is beautifully well done and the chemistry between the two leads is phenomenal. Reason enough to give it a watch if you're into these types of gay storylines like I am. Thank you Marco Berger!

amazing film

[99aaron99 · 9/10 · 13 March 2021]

Film: I love the silence of this, how much can still be portrayed without unnecessary dialogue. I think both the leads did an incredible job acting. Storyline: Even if someone gay wants to remain in the closet, that doesn't mean they should treat their secret loved one like complete crap. Juan didn't have to sleep with others, he even did it with Gabo sat in the same flat. The strongest scene for me is when Gabo sheds silent tears, showing such strong emotion from someone normally so reserved. Juan was a very selfish character in this film. Ending: Reviewers said they would of preferred a happy ending, this is a happy ending, Gabo's character is open to find a guy who will treasure him.

OK...let's get real!!!

[ohlabtechguy · 6/10 · 28 November 2020]

Almost every scene showed someone eating, drinking, and/or smoking in dive settings. If not for the precious blonde actor, who was front and center in most every scene, this movie would be total trash. Yeah...the blonde played the bottom and he had a nice white one, too. I felt sorry for him because he was so sweet and his closeted boyfriend was mostly a cowardly, insensitive jerk. I like the use of quiet facial shots where thoughts and emotions are communicated in silence, but this movie could have been better.

Berger is a dream weaver!

[dcook-76708 · 9/10 · 10 December 2019]

After watching Hawaii and then Plan B, Manuel Vignau's screen characters were just amazing! I don't know what Berger does or says to make these actors really get into their roles!! With The Blond One, again, a very Berger style of acting :) I was really touched by this movie, it's speaks about of lot of emotions that we all deal with everyday! As another reviewer commented, it is a film to be watched when I'm the right mood. Enjoy!! I look forward to reading more reviews soon... Is Marco working on anything new at the minute? I sure hope so!

Even slower and less compelling than Taekwondo

[ciffou · 3 May 2020]

I am a Marco Berger fan. The first of his movies that I watched was "Hawaii", then I moved to "Sexual Tension" and I realized how great he is telling stories full of desire, creating sexual tension. It is pretty clear that the main issue in his movies revolves around this "unspoken" desire... the same with "Taekwondo", which barely had rounded characters. Although it was rather slow, at least the main characters were surrounded by people that did not act like they are eternally depressed such as Juan Manuel Martino. He would lift things up. That is NOT the case with *this* movie. Of course, Juan exhudes sex. I have to applaud Berger's eye when casting men, but we never get to understand why Gabriel would fall *in love* with him, they barely say anything to each other. We only see them coming and going out of the house, watching TV and smoking or in bed... I don't understand why people can applaud the casting on this movie. I get nothing from Gaston Re's face (or his close-ups) and don't even make start with his "daugther"... men... pretty much EVERYONE recites their lines but the girl is the worst, even correcting herself along the way. Until the end I understand why they decided to keep so many of her scenes. She is "important" somehow. Precisely for this, I would have chosen another actress to play this part. I was never invested in the father-daughter relationship. I know the title is "the blonde one" but Juan's demons would have created a richer story. If we were able to see the two of them as three-dimensional characters, the story had been far more enjoyable and I would have understood why I was supposed to root for either of them.

Staring contest

[elimviolinist · 7/10 · 24 October 2021]

It's literally like a collection of awkward moments. And as someone who's worked in multiple machine shops, I can say the workplace safety definitely wasn't there... The ending redeemed it for me.

Super cute

[JeanFlores-Dickens · 8/10 · 24 September 2021]

Argentina has really surprised me with its gay themed films, this is another good one, slow a few times but worth seeing how the characters get involved, the end is real and it can be related to a lot gay/bi men.

Solid 8 stars.

Bravo Marco!

[olliesfake · 8/10 · 23 October 2019]

Always stoked with Marco's work, brilliant story, i felt the emotion for the blonde guy one, he struggled hard to keep his feelings for Juan.

Too long, too slow.

[jonassantiago-38288 · 5/10 · 9 February 2020]

I think the plot is really good but poorly developed. The movie is so tiring slow and repetitive (not to mention really long silence and awkward moments during the entire movie). At least "attraction" seems real between Juan and Gabriel.

The last scene was the best in the entire movie and also really touching.

Damn near perfection

[barkingbard · 10/10 · 17 August 2020]

I am blown away by this film. Gastòn Re's portrayal of Gabriel; an introverted, intelligent, heart wrenching and Awkward and such a captivating character. The open and lightly scripted film is filled by Gastòn's kaleidoscopic expressions and emotions. An actor I want to see more of in the future.

This film is the strongest and most polished of Marco Berger's career and it is difficult to fault in any way.

Heartwarming

[catwatchesclouds · 8/10 · 4 June 2020]

It was slow and repetitive at times, with little dialog, but this helped draw out the story somehow. And then you had bursts of dialog here and there, shedding light into the characters. The end came kind of suddenly, at first disappointing, but then surprisingly heart-warming, despite the previous sad development. Overall a quiet, sweet film.

Powerful and realistic

[juanpablosegundo · 10/10 · 1 November 2019]

It all feels real, no special effects or gimmicks, just regular folks involved in a secret affair... Some moments are very poignant because of how realistic they feel... Definitely not Disney material!!!