GAY LOVE, PRIVACY,
MYSTERY, NUDITY, AND COWS

Those who prefer fast-moving plots, in a confusion-free zone so that it’s always clear what’s going on in the story and in the characters’ heads won’t have only good things to say about Only Good Things, even if they feel drawn in by the film’s drawn-out story centering on gay men. Writer/director  Daniel Nolasco’s distinctive, eye-filling 2025 release from Brazil takes place in that country; dialogue is in Portuguese and there are English subtitles, but speech is spare so it’s not a struggle to keep pace with what’s said at the expense of noting the tone of voice and what’s being “said” with the actors’ eyes and body language. Those bodies are fully nude sometimes, the camera and/or the characters’ hands lingering over the flesh, including sex activity, both loving and lustful. With many effective moments of tenderness or tension, contrasting characters and settings, but also an enervating dwelling on mundane movements and baffling aspects in the second half, there’s much that’s plus and plenty to leave one nonplussed.

The opening scene in 1984, Catalão, Brazil, presents Liev Carlos as motorcyclist Marcelo moving along on the open road on own, his full face obscured by helmet and sunglasses, with nothing else to see, and that’s the first time it feels like things just take too unnecessarily long a time. (A motorcycle zipping along at an apparently fast clip can still seem slow, timed to allow a full-length country song — in English — to play over opening credits and over the irritating buzz of the motor.) He stops to ask directions, buy and drink a beverage, and get back on his way. The way the camera stays on a close-up on the glass bottle he leaves behind you’d almost expect that the film’s message was going to be about the importance of recycling.

Shortly, something unaccountably comes crashing down on him out of a clear blue sky and next time we see him, he’s possibly roadkill, bloody and unmoving. Lucky for him, a good Samaritan named Antônio (Lucas Drummond) lives nearby, finds him, rescues him, takes him in, tends his wounds, and they share a shower, kisses, sex, and a sweet loving relationship. Lucky for both of them; less eventful are the other actions in Antônio’s life that we see in unrushed detail: making coffee, drinking coffee, milking his cows – pull, squirt, pull, squirt, pour into a bucket – preparing cheese, walking around.

Yes, we get the requited sense of his day-to-day drear and solitude that’s been brightened by company and love of Lucas. We get it. But a little goes a long way. Days pass in an emotionally and cinematically pleasing way (cinematography: Larry Machado). Lucas heals and love grows and more cups of kindness and coffee (with fresh farm milk) are shared. But it’s not just coffee that’s brewing; trouble is, too. There’s homophobia, discovery of the affair, Antônio’s refusal to give up his property, a chase with rifles, shots ring out, a chilling father/son scene takes place and…. sorrow rules. And then what feels like the end of the film… but can’t be if you check your watch or screen indication of the time elapsed versus the running time of the movie (104 minutes, nowhere near close to running out).

Then – suddenly, startlingly – what feels like a whole new movie, with new characters and new settings, begins. What’s going on? An older man, wet from the river, pops up and starts the puzzling part. Who is he? This white-haired, sad-eyed man looks sort of like he could be an older version of Antônio — Oh! He is! Maybe. But we don’t hear him called by name right away. It’s a different actor (Fernando Libonati) who is soon in a fancy city apartment being questioned about Marcelo’s mysterious disturbing disappearance. It appears they were lovers for many years. It’s a time jump. Or have we jumped into a dream or an alternate reality? What is the meaning of all this? Is Marcelo merely missing, murdered, in hiding, or did he just impulsively run off – alone or otherwise?

And what are the vested interests, intentions, and interactions involving the maid (Renata Carvalho) and the assistant (Igor Leoni), the latter later suddenly stripping nude, while the many layers of mystery are peeled away less quickly or completely. Loose threads of plot are left loose, unexplained actions left unexplained, the seeming significance of items found by the maid are lost to us. While things are hinted at, one is left feeling frustrated as well as fascinated, with more questions than answers, left in the dark, left wondering what backstories and incidents were left out and what would be left to tell. I guess there’s no telling.

Only Good Things (Apenas Coisas Boas)
screened at NewFest 37
2025 | unrated | 1 hour, 44 minutes
for more info, visit Open Reel Films