HORSEPLAY (LOS AGITADORES)

MARCO BERGER | ARGENTINA | 2022 | 102 MIN | SPANISH S.-T.EN.

A group of testosterone-pumped pals unwind for the holidays in a swanky Argentinian villa under the guise of heterosexuality, discussing the paradoxes of the universe as the paradoxes of sexuality bring them together and pull them apart in erratic, erotic, and unexpected ways.

The word “homo” flowing through their rhetoric as often as “hello,” the group of ten impossibly attractive men lounge around or nap in various states of undress, pull juvenile pranks, and use one another’s privates as sport, snapping photos in compromising positions. It is unclear, at first, who might be queer, as it could plausibly be any of them – though it’s undeniable that the dynamic anxiously shifts when there is at least one identified in their midst. As the antics escalate, turning into voyeurism and threesomes upon the arrival of female friends for New Years, much darker choices are made in the charged, free-wheeling environment. Marco Berger, also the writer-director of the image+nation’s 2019 entry The Blonde One, is a maestro of titillating tension, and Horseplay utilizes those skills to blur lines and accentuate the absurdity – and clinging influence – of labels.

screening at Cinéma Impérial | NOVEMBER 22ND 7PM

ONLINE (November 23rd to 27th)