The Way He Looks
LGBT cinema is bigger and better than every year. For the past week, our steps towards equality have been being bounds with marriage rights and Pride all titillating our excitement. LGBT films are getting to that stage where they are no longer a “niche” that people can escape into. They are actually becoming exactly what they should be, cinema. So with this new wave and perception, that trying to escape the grasps of bigotry and prejudice, there is some incredible pieces that look at all the different facets of homosexuality. One such film to come out in the past year is The Way He Looks which is a must see for all film lovers out there.
Written and directed by Daniel Ribeiro, The Way He Looks revolves around Leonardo. The blind teenager has hit an age where he wants to explore the world with more freedom than his parents are allowing him. Though relatively accustomed to his disability, Leonardo’s world is bleak, especially because he is bullied repeatedly by children at school. Every day with his best friend Giovanna seems blend into one but, when new student Gabriel transfers over to his school, Leo is about to discover the world and love in a whole new light.
Ribeiro is astutely aware of how to flesh out the aching element of adolescences and splices it with the unearthing emotions of first loves and his different with having no sight. Compassionate to the story and characters, director Ribeiro choses to embellish the tale with sensitivity and the writing is so excellently detailed that you feel as though you were watching a documentary enthused with gorgeous cinematography. The Way He Looks trembles with eloquence as poignancy broils with the journey that captures Leo’s plight.
That dilemma, by the way, through bullying and dealing with his feelings rather than his eyesight. Despite his impaired eyesight, Leo’s at an age where he and those around him have handled the disability, like clockwork. Leo’s character is based on his personality. Whilst he is picked on and the blindness is touched upon in tenser moments, it’s actually not a plot device or Leo’s entire life. You feel for him because of his soft nature and tenderness to those around him. Ribeiro has created this concise and rich character played evocatively well by young actor Ghilherme Lobo. (He, himself, isn’t blind and that does open a narrative about whether a disabled actor should’ve been cast. But regardless, it is stunning performance).
With a lingering soundtrack and twists through Belle & Sebastian, Schubert and Marvin Gaye, The Way He Looks is a tender poetic piece on identity and Fabio Audi and Tess Amorim equally provocative in their roles, The Way He Looks is a summery film that tackles pubescence and love. Its warming Spanish tale is a glorious portrayal of sexuality and growth, astutely focusing on Leo’s arc and self-discovery. This is intensely sublime, a must see for everyone who has every struggled against the grain and defiantly shows that love is much more than physicality - as is sexuality.