O Fantasma

An undeniable cinematic ufo made 20 years ago, this first feature film by João Pedro Rodrigues is a fascinating work that questions the mutations of man. In the Lisbon of the night, Sergio the garbage man loses himself in his impulsive and irresolute quest for the other. Silent sequences, sparkling like the star, sexual and brutal reality, everything is part of a funereal and animal ceremony. Latex skin, wild eyes, the mutation has already begun. Influenced by the homosexual avant-gardes of the 60s and 70s (Fassbinder's Querelle, Pasolini's Salo, Schroeter's films) as well as the American gay porn wave (fetishism, bondage), O Fantasma is the "Chant d'Amou" (Genet) of the 21st century: dark, violent and trivial, but as beautiful as a burst of blue lava.