BFI Flare 2019: Consequences

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BFI FLARE

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"17-year-old delinquent Andrej has a serious chip on his shoulder. When his antisocial behaviour lands him in a youth correctional facility, he quickly falls in with a bad crowd, led by volatile and unpredictable Željko. As the two inmates form a tentative friendship, Andrej senses a strong physical attraction blossoming. But are Željko’s feelings real, or is he just using Andrej as a pawn in a far more dangerous game? Driven by a commanding performance from rising star Matej Zemljič, who imbues the conflicted Andrej with a palpable sense of silent longing, Darko Štante’s bracingly homoerotic drama resists the familiar traits we might expect from a queer teen narrative, in favour of something more distinctive and seductive." BFI Flare

Consequences is the first gay-themed film to emerge from Slovenia, a country best known for inflicting Melania Trump on the world. It's also the first feature from director Darko Štante.

Many of gay cinema's most recognisable ingredients are in play here: the errant youth (Andrej, played by Matej Zemljic); the mother from hell; the brutal yet homoertoic institution; some violent, antagonistic yobs... Instead of merely using these tropes to tell a familiar story, but set in Slovenia, Darko cleverly subverts expectations, elevating Consequences from being a solid feature, to a genuinely surprising one.

There's a couple of really shocking, didn't-see-it-coming moments, that will go into my own list of gay cinema's sexiest moments, but where Consequences really succeeds is in its examination of toxic masculinity and the complex dynamics between Andrej and the manipulative Željko.

Challenging, startling and uncompromising, Consequences is a winner.

READ ALL MY REVIEWS FROM BFI FLARE

KAOS reports every year from the annual
BFI Flare: London LGBTQ+ Film Festival.