And we’re off! The VQFF started with… well, not a bang, exactly, but a nice low-key burn. To Faro is a subtitled German film (original title: Mein Freund Aus Faro, or My Friend From Faro) about a young butch lesbian who falls in love with a teenage girl (who thinks she’s a guy named Miguel) while her oblivious family thinks she’s dating a guy. Also named Miguel.
This was an interesting movie, about one-third comedy and two-thirds drama. I almost called it a tragedy, because you can see the shit coming a mile away, but that’d be a little over the top. Still, even though the queer character doesn’t die at the end (hey, progress!), this is not a movie where the girl gets the girl. As much as I hoped for a happy ending*, there was no way Mel and Jenny would end up together.
(* The VQFF site described it as “Boys Don’t Cry with a happy ending”. Yeah. No.)
It wasn’t an entirely sad ending, mind you, just… bittersweet, and very open-ended. Mel decides she’s had enough of her empty life, the go-nowhere job she just quit, the family that doesn’t understand her, the homophobic snots surrounding the love interest who doesn’t love her back, and decides to pack up and move to Portugal. To Faro, in particular, where both her imaginary Miguels come from? Will Nuno, her partner in lies, join her in her travels, or will he talk her into staying? We don’t know, and I suspect we’re supposed to write our own endings.
Which is okay with me, and I have a feeling Mel will be all right. She’s tasted love, and tasted heartbreak, and has something to shoot for besides lying in fields, watching planes take off and land.
PS: And hey, this was my first VQFF opening gala! The movie was preceded by a couple speeches, and a showing of the very very awesome winner of the Out in Schools Anti-Homophobia PSA contest, the very very awesome makers of which were in the audience.
PPS: And then I swung by Club 560 for the opening gala party, but I didn’t stay long. I did enjoy the technicolor cotton candy, though!