Martin (Javier De Pietro) is a schoolboy in Argentina, who fabricates an injury during swimming practice to engineer some time alone with his teacher, Sebastian (Carlos Echevarría), to whom he has taken something of a liking.
By pretending that his grandmother is out and he was supposed to stay over with a friend, Martin spends the night at Sebastian’s apartment, after which he returns to school and his mightily distressed parents, who had no idea where he was. Sebastian, meanwhile, is also struggling to come to terms with how he feels about Martin’s obvious affections.
*****
An intriguing film that ends up as far less than the sum of its parts, this nonetheless has some interesting and effective moments, even if it doesn’t in the end hang together coherently enough to really grab the attentions of the mainstream. De Pietro is an effective actor, his strong physique coupled with his boyish doe eyes making him appealing to Echevarría’s unexpectedly confused and conflicted teacher.
Echevarría conveys that conflict very well, especially as the film progresses, but for too much of its running time the film itself seems more confused than any of its characters. The soundtrack as Martin creeps around Sebastian’s apartment suggests an obsessive/stalker plot is developing, but in the end something much more gently dramatic and affecting unfolds. That is no bad thing, it just leaves the viewer a bit confused as to how to approach the events up there on screen.
Martin’s attraction towards Sebastian is well played, proving sincere, tender and more disconcerting where appropriate. Sebastian’s reactions are also well-thought through, even if the film struggles to find and maintain a consistent style and tone.
Once the overnight stay is over, the film badly drifts for much of the rest of its running time. That running time is admittedly brief, but nothing much happens until an unexpected event in the closing stages sends Sebastian off into further confusion and uncertainty. There are no pat resolutions or simplistic “lessons learned”, but the tone is so vague and the impression of what the film is trying to say so indistinct that it has the effect of preventing us from connecting or caring as much as we otherwise might.
You can get Absent on DVD to rent here.
[Rating:2/5]
[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANmbiTRqDHM’]
