Horseplay

A group of young men test each other’s boundaries in this provocative chamber piece from acclaimed queer filmmaker Marco Berger.

In the hot Argentine summer, Artur gathers his friends at his family’s villa. The young men drink, goof around and take afternoon naps, delighting in each other’s toned bodies as well as in their casual homophobia. As the boisterous group play risqué pranks on one another, the initial consensual horseplay gives way to jealousy and violence, revealing the limits of their personal boundaries.

As with much of his work, director Marco Berger (Plan B, Taekwondo) takes great delight in amplifying the homoerotic undercurrents of male friendships. But while the sensory pleasures of Horseplay are immediate, at its heart lies a more challenging critique of consent, sexual misconduct and toxic masculinity. Contains scenes of sexual assault and homophobic language.