Watch 4 Moons For Free

Touches You

How sad is this?

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

We are treated to four different yet interwoven stories; the common denominator being that they deal with being gay and gay relationships.In one story we meet an elderly closeted gay poet, Joaquín (Alonso Echánove); he is married, with a seemingly happy wife and daughters. He is smitten by a young male prostitute, Gilberto (Alejandro Belmonte) he meets in a bath-house. In a second story we get an example of a long-term (ten year) gay relationship that is starting to fall apart. Unfaithful Hugo (Antonio Velásquez) is involved in an affair with another man. His sensitive partner, Andrés (Alejandro de la Madrid) is trying his best to save their relationship. The relationship between two young gay men is put under pressure in a third story; Leo (Gustavo Egelhaaf) is closeted and scared to reveal his sexual orientation, whilst Fito (César Ramos) does not want to remain in the closet any longer. This leads to tension. In the fourth story a clearly gay boy, Mauricio (Gabriel Santoyo) develops a crush on his older cousin, Oliver (Sebastián Rivera). Mauricio desperately wants to get closer to Oliver, but it is a risky move; what if Oliver is straight and homophobic? The director, Sergio Tovar Velarde, effectively highlights some of the issues faced by gays: Social pressure resulting in fear and closeted lifestyles, a swinging lifestyle and promiscuity, and how hard it is to make a long-term relationship work. Furthermore, it shows us how a homophobic and intolerant society, fueled by the church, can result in bullying and assault. I found the acting splendid, and so too the cinematography and soundtrack, and score 'Cuatro Lunas' an excellent 8/10.

Technically speaking, the film seemed me like a telenovela. With time and performances OK for television, but not very elaborated for a film. Four parallel stories that look like they were there, all together, because of the director did not know whether he would again have budget to film them separately in the future. Anyway, I liked the story of Leo, Fito and his mother (great acting). The story of the boys from school, I found it hard to believe. We are in the twenty-first century (and looked like it was happening in the 70s). If at a school, a boy (or a group of boys) hit, that way, to another, for being gay, or whatever, he/them are sanctioned, and all adults defend the victim, but in this movie, everybody assume the argument of the perpetrator, as valid and, OK, the gay boy "something had done" to deserve that. The story of the poet grandfather was interesting though little credible. And the gay couple's story (the too gay styled couple), very boring and obvious, to me.

Each of the four story plots were common themes fairly realistically presented. A very young boy gets "outted" to fellow students, school authorities and parents after he gets touchy-feely with a male cousin. A couple, one of whom is out and public about being gay, while the other is closeted and fearful of public exposure, deal with the conflicts their differences create between them. An elderly married man becomes fascinated with a straight hustler who is looking to raise money for a trip north to join his family. A long- term couple, one of whom has become disenchanted with their relationship, deal with a possible break up.The story about the young boy and his parents is pretty straight forward, but lacks any depth or any originality. The resolution really only involves the father coming to terms with his son's apparent nature, and that resolution is particularly shallow and trite.The story about the older man who (suddenly?) feels attracted to, actually obsessed about, another man he encounters in a steam room also seems a little hard to fathom as presented. One gets the impression that this is his first venture outside his marriage and his fidelity to wife and family. I suppose that's possible. The idea of someone coming out or acting upon a suppressed desire fairly late in life is a popular one in movies and television. But in this case, the one encounter appears to be a sufficient expression of that desire, followed by a return to the "traditional" wife and family as if the one experience satisfied the urge for all time. And exactly why the older man felt the need for the hustler to anonymously attend his award ceremony is a little baffling. Not saying it couldn't happen, but I never felt the rationale for it was established (the recording I watched had somewhat erratic audio and subtitles, so maybe I just missed it).The other two stories seemed more complete and realistic to me, although their resolutions were a little too happily-ever-after and neatly packaged.It is definitely worth watching, but possibly there was an attempt to achieve too much in too short a time. Maybe two or three moons would have allowed for a little more depth rather than all four moons at one go.

The Mexican film Cuatro Lunas was shown in the U.S. with the title Four Moons (2014). It was directed by Sergio Tovar Velarde. (I'm not sure if the title refers to the fact that the movie depicts four separate stories, or takes place over four months, or both.)Sometimes, a director will interweave the stories so that characters of one story interact with characters of the other stories. Not so here. Each story is independent, but the theme of all four stories is the same--difficulties face by gay men. The stories have an age separation: one is about a pre-adolescent, one about a college-age couple, one about a couple in midlife, and one about an elderly professor who is married, with grown children, but who still seeks love from a gay hustler.I found all four stories to be realistic and very moving. I was especially impressed by the story of Joaquin, the professor, played by Alonso Echinove. He has been awarded a literary prize by a small college. It's obviously a pretty minor event, but it's the only award he's likely to receive. He pays the young hustler to attend, and the young man keeps his promise to be there.We saw this film at The Little Theatre as part of ImageOut, the always impressive Rochester LGBT Film Festival. It will work well on DVD.