¡Beso de lengua!
2024 · 13m · Mexico
Directed by José Luis Zorrero
Genres: comedy, dark comedy, LGBTQ+, romance
Tones: absurdist, humorous, whimsical
Itzcoatl and Moises are on their first date at a cafe specializing in experimental desserts. After hours of getting to know each other over milkshakes and macarons, they play an unusual and riveting game that ends with both of them in the ER with bloody mouths.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
Dessert-cafe first date escalates into a bloody-mouthed ER trip — Almodóvar-via-Noé pretensions in a Mexican LGBTQ+ short is at least swinging. Whether the sound design and gross-out climax actually subvert anything depends on execution I can't yet judge.
First-date queer romcom in an experimental-dessert café escalating to ER-grade sound design suggests a Mexican entry in the Yorgos Lanthimos-by-way-of-Almodóvar tonal lineage. The grotesque-romantic register either lands fully or not at all; I'd want to see it tested.
Thirteen minutes building from experimental-dessert-cafe first-date to an ER bloody-mouthed climax is a confident comedic arc, and the sound design pushing into stomach-turning territory is the kind of choice that separates it from Almodóvar-as-aesthetic. Page doesn't tell me much craft beyond mood.
Reviews
One of the most original, unhinged, and at times shocking, romance stories you'll ever see.
Writer/director Jose Luis Zorrero crafts an absurd, bonkers narrative that he brings to the screen with wild energy and a razor-sharp sense of humor.
Festivals
- Tribeca Film Festival 2024
- Guanajuato International Film Festival 2024, Best Mexican Fiction Short Film
- Palm Springs ShortFest 2024
- Morelia International Film Festival 2024