Versatile
2017 · 15m · España
Directed by Carlos Ocho
Genres: drama, LGBTQ+, romance
Tones: contemplative, tender, tense
Alex and Hugo are a couple who have been together for more than six months. One Friday night, when they arrive at Alex's flat, they argue about each other's sexual roles; what starts as a simple discussion ends up exposing important points they must talk about to make the relationship work.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
A couple talks about sex roles in their apartment—sounds like a Sundance panel, not a film. The premise is so earnestly well-intentioned it forgets to do anything interesting with the actual *conflict*, which is exactly the kind of safe LGBTQ+ drama that makes Felix's skin crawl.
Ocho situates this squarely in the tradition of intimate European chamber drama—two bodies, one room, language as the only action—and executes it with considered restraint and formal discipline. The tonal modulation from argument to tenderness feels earned.
The entire film hinges on a single moment where Hugo stops talking and *listens*—a barely perceptible shift in his body language that recontextualizes everything we've heard—and Ocho trusts the camera to hold on it instead of underlining the emotional turn. That restraint is what separates this from therapy-session melodrama.