Horseplay Review: ‘An interesting exploration of machismo’
Despite a light-hearted tone to Marco Berger's film, an underlying sense of tension lingers throughout.
It was hardly a surprise that the majority of the audience at a screening of a film called Horseplay (Los Agitadores) were men.
Marco Berger’s film about a group of young (mostly) straight men acts as a spiritual successor to his earlier film, Taekwondo. In Horseplay Berger explores the boundaries of the men’s homoerotic relationships with one another.
In Horseplay, a group of friends has gathered at Artur’s (Iván Masliah) luxury villa for Christmas and New Year.
The group spends much of the film lounging around in swimming trunks or underwear. The camera coyly lingering on their undressed bodies.
In the first half, the gang plays pranks on one another. This includes soaking each other in water and moving one person’s hand down their friend’s trousers while they both sleep. All the while these are documented and shared in a group chat.
Things are kept lighthearted to begin with though an underlying sense that things will go awry lingers overhead. You can probably thank years of queer content ending in trauma or heartache for that.
“Your enjoyment of the film will depend on your tolerance for spending time with this group of testosterone-pumped men.”
As the film progresses the ensemble nature of the film shifts to focus slightly on three characters. The kind-faced Poli (Franco de la Puente) is frequently where the camera is drawn to. A more reserved member of the group, Poli is often seen reacting uncomfortably to the pranks. He’s also the most clearly defined queer character, seeking out his friend and occasional lover, Andy (Agustín Machta).
Andy also has queer ties to Nico (Bruno Giganti) though the latter doesn’t want to discuss it.
Horseplay exposes toxic masculinity for all that it is – fragile – and built on long-outdated ideas of what it is to be a man. At one point another of the gang is followed on Instagram by a gay man he knew from way back and begins to question whether he’ll be implicated as gay as a result.
Berger’s film is an interesting exploration of machismo and the things it drives men to do. A warning: the film leaves the more unpleasant incidents uncomfortably unresolved.
The notes for the film do say that “Your enjoyment of the film will depend on your tolerance for spending time with this group of testosterone-pumped men.” That is very much the case. For this writer, 102 minutes was a bit too much time with this group of ‘lads’.
3/5
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