| Hard Paint | |
| Director: | Marcio Reolon Filipe Matzembacher |
| Producer: | Jéssica Luz Filipe Matzembacher Marcio Reolon |
| Starring: | Shico Menegat |
| Cinematography: | Glauco Firpo |
| Editing: | Germano de Oliveira |
| Runtime: | 117 minutes |
| Country: | Brazil |
| Language: | Portuguese |
Hard Paint (Portuguese: '''Tinta bruta''') is a 2018 Brazilian drama film directed by Marcio Reolon and Filipe Matzembacher. It is set in Porto Alegre and follows a young gay man called Pedro (Shico Menegat) who performs on video chat using body paint as his trademark. The film was screened at the 68th Berlin International Film Festival, winning the Teddy Award for the best LGBTQ feature film of the festival.
The film centres on Pedro, a shy young man who works as a performer on a gay-oriented video chat website. His trademark is to dance while smearing neon body paint over his body; the film's central conflict is set in motion when he learns that another chatroom performer (Boy25) is imitating him.
Pedro arranges to meet Boy25 (Leo) and they become lovers, but it is hard for Pedro to trust anyone. He has previously been pushed to breaking point by bullies and whilst his sister knows him well, he has to lie to his grandmother about how he makes money. His mother is dead and his father is not around. Pedro leads a double life in which he is introverted until he goes online and assumes his alternative identity NeonBoy. A real-life sexual encounter goes wrong but then despite losing Leo (who is following his dreams and moving to Europe), at the end of the film Pedro is dancing and open to new beginnings.
Hard Paint explores the theme of isolation, since Pedro performs online from a studio in his bedroom and withdraws from the wider world. He has difficult relationships with his family and the other people he meets. This depiction of Pedro then creates a picture of a fragmented world in which people are alienated from each other.[1] This feeling of loneliness can also be applied to the city of Porto Alegre, from which many young people move away (like Pedro's sister) leaving the people who remain with only memories.[2]
Internationally, Hard Paint was a critical success. Variety praised the "picture of a fragmented society barely able to foster empathetic connections". Sight & Sound suggested the film was a "potential LGBTQ breakout hit" and whilst cautioning that it was a looser film than other recent crossover successes such as God’s Own Country and A Fantastic Woman, called it "entertainingly unpredictable".[3] Screen Daily enjoyed the "fluid cinematography" of Glauco Firpo saying it caught "the quasi-fairytale quality of a boy who lives on the outside of his life, looking in".[4]
Mature Times called the film a "poignant character study".[5] The Hollywood Reporter remarked that Hard Paint "at times recalls Moonlight, not just structurally, in its separately titled three-part breakdown, but also in its moving observation of a vulnerable gay male protagonist in an unaccommodating environment".[6] Australian Cinematographer, the magazine of the Australian Cinematographers Society, called the film "stunning" and "beautiful".