Sublime (2022)

There certainly has been no shortage of coming of age films in recent years, and many of those have had LGBTQ+ elements as part of their storylines. And now writer-director Mariano Biasin has added to that list with his third feature offering about a teenage boy who’s become infatuated with one of his longtime pals from childhood. To complicate matters, as members of an aspiring rock band, they spend much of their time together, which leads to an ever-growing fixation for the curious young man the more he’s in his friend’s company. His feelings become further strained when his sidekick starts bragging about his growing list of female conquests, prompting quiet but powerful fits of jealously from his secret admirer and increasing tension in their long-tenured relationship. Unfortunately, other than the rock band story thread, this is far from an original narrative in the history of LGBTQ+ cinema. What’s more, the opening act is more of a jumble of rambling, seemingly unrelated images than the makings of a coherent story, almost to the point where this film would have been better titled “Cryptic” or “Vague.” Moreover, the picture places a strong emphasis on its musical numbers, most of which are admittedly decent enough, though there are quite a few of them, a fact probably attributable to the filmmaker’s experience as a director of music videos. But, when you add that to the fact that the screenplay tends to get somewhat repetitive as the story plays out, you’ve got an increasingly tedious film that leaves viewers wondering when all of this is finally going to get wrapped up. In short, “Sublime” is a work that could definitely use some retooling (and a little more imagination) to make it a more worthwhile viewing choice, especially in light of the many other better options available in both gay cinema and music videos. Choose them instead.