If I didn't know better I'd have guessed that the writer and director of "Plan B" were two different people, neither of them very experienced or talented, totally working at odds. The film seems like a collaboration between filmmakers who had never made movies before, or even seen better ones.
"Plan B" is too long by half, especially for as little story as there is to tell. Scenes drag on forever, broken up by shots of buildings and rumbling ambient sounds that belong in a more suspenseful film. There is a lot of will-he-or-won't-he going on, lots of staring and deep thinking, but none of it out in the audience. Which isn't to say that this little story is boring, only badly told. In the right hands, two men discovering that trying to define yourself is only fooling yourself could be completely fascinating.
The film's biggest problem is the distance from each of its characters - not only emotionally but literally, in front of the camera. There are so few closeups it becomes difficult to follow what any of these people are thinking, and the script's refusal to put any of their struggles into words only hurts the process. Lucas Ferraro breaks through once, with a silent scene where Pablo realizes what has happened and what it means to him. Manuel Vignau's Bruno gets no such scene, so it's almost impossible to register where his plotting ends and his supposed love begins. Other characters, their relationships unclear, wander through adding almost nothing to what's going on.
So "Plan B" is a disappointment mainly because of the squandered opportunity it represents. With dialog that developed its ideas and a director who better exploited not only its comic but tragic aspects, the brilliant hook of the script could have resulted in another minor classic like "Parting Glances." Instead, it is just one more foreign import with a great-looking trailer: lingering glances, a few butt shots, and a hope that the gay guys who've rented it will be too busy reading the subtitles to realize how thin the story and emotions actually are.
C+
"Plan B" is too long by half, especially for as little story as there is to tell. Scenes drag on forever, broken up by shots of buildings and rumbling ambient sounds that belong in a more suspenseful film. There is a lot of will-he-or-won't-he going on, lots of staring and deep thinking, but none of it out in the audience. Which isn't to say that this little story is boring, only badly told. In the right hands, two men discovering that trying to define yourself is only fooling yourself could be completely fascinating.
The film's biggest problem is the distance from each of its characters - not only emotionally but literally, in front of the camera. There are so few closeups it becomes difficult to follow what any of these people are thinking, and the script's refusal to put any of their struggles into words only hurts the process. Lucas Ferraro breaks through once, with a silent scene where Pablo realizes what has happened and what it means to him. Manuel Vignau's Bruno gets no such scene, so it's almost impossible to register where his plotting ends and his supposed love begins. Other characters, their relationships unclear, wander through adding almost nothing to what's going on.
So "Plan B" is a disappointment mainly because of the squandered opportunity it represents. With dialog that developed its ideas and a director who better exploited not only its comic but tragic aspects, the brilliant hook of the script could have resulted in another minor classic like "Parting Glances." Instead, it is just one more foreign import with a great-looking trailer: lingering glances, a few butt shots, and a hope that the gay guys who've rented it will be too busy reading the subtitles to realize how thin the story and emotions actually are.
C+