Taboos are a specific feature of every society. In fact, the personal relationship we have with all these taboos is an invisible force that shapes our identity. ‘Erótico‘ is a short film that shocks us with its extremely nonchalant approach to perhaps the most “extreme” taboo that subtly influences our lives: pornography. Thus, director Aaron Bertrand-Ruiz starts his project with an undeniable fact: pornography is a reality that is much more present in our daily lives than we want to accept. But despite the pretext provided by the theme of pornography, the short film is actually about how this addiction totally reconfigures a boy’s development. Through the protagonist’s perspective, we see the progressive alienation that arises from immersing oneself in the industry’s toxic fantasies and engaging in practices that mimic those artificial versions of “real pleasure.” The pattern of a coming-of-age narrative is interwoven with the subtle perspective on a society which, while hiding it, “normalizes” this vice so that it is ultimately perceived as a necessary initiation rite for a boy to become a man.
Essentially, this is the core of the short film: it explores how the subtle structures of masculinity are distorted by the family “patriarchs” themselves, driven by a misguided understanding of the true needs of the human soul. This gives us access to a fragment of social dynamics we are quite familiar with: the precocity of pornography consumption is seen as a quality that confirms a boy’s healthy and dominant masculinity, whereas a young man’s sexual experience is directly proportional to his status within the entourage. Aaron Bertrand-Ruiz assimilates all these “principles” into a subjective narrative in which the protagonist’s voice guides the viewer’s experience throughout the entire testimonial in order to reveal the causes of his accelerated alienation, but also out of a desire to find a cure for this addiction. We plunge into a carefully crafted cinematic experience that distills over a decade of the character’s life. His reality is constantly divided between the dark, vividly colored world of his “refuge” in pornography and sexual excesses, and the everyday moments that gradually expose his own vulnerability. In fact, beyond its courage and sincerity, ‘Erótico’ is an impressive short film precisely because of its crushing sensitivity, inviting us to a moment of reflection on a social problem that we are aware of but often prefer to ignore.
For the courage, authenticity, and sincerity with which it tackles one of the great taboos of contemporary society, ‘Erótico’ was awarded with the 2nd Film of the Month distinction in the October 2024 edition of TMFF.
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