Acne

Thursday September 4

I have had some truly awful 1st movies at the festival in past years so I am always pleased when I get a good start. I enjoyed Acne. The movie follows Rafael. Rafael lives in a small Jewish community in Uruguay and has recently become a man both through celebrating his bar mitzvah and having his first sexual experience. Rafael spends s great deal of time asking for and stealing money from his parents so that he can visit the local brothel. When he is not at the brothel, Rafael is at school or receiving treatment for a bad case of acne. Although he is having a lot of sex for a 13 year old, what he really longs for is a kiss from a girl. It is the one thing that he cannot get from the prostitutes he visits.

The film moves at a fairly slow pace, which did bother me at times. Rafael is not a very chatty kid. Many of the scenes find him saying little or nothing at all, making the scenes feel longer than they actually are. This could be a real turn off for many.

I would recommend the movie. The young actors do a good job of bringing the quirky cast of characters to life and the storyline is surprisingly charming.