‘Rotting in the Sun’ Review: Beach Balls
metroweekly.comRotting in the Sun (★★★★☆). Cinema itself might soon go missing, Silva fears, portraying himself in this twisting tale of his own disappearance.
And what comes after cinema? Apparently, just “content,” a word Silva, writer-director of such wickedly tense films as The Maid and Nasty Baby, spits out with contempt, despite his addiction, like anyone else, to mindlessly surfing internet clips.The onscreen Silva also doesn’t disguise his contempt for content creator Jordan Firstman, the real-life gabby, gay social media maven he runs into on a nude beach in Oaxaca.
Flirtatious Firstman reminds the filmmaker they’ve met before, then promptly starts pitching new content, a ridiculous-sounding reality show/social media experience that he wants Silva to produce.Silva clearly resents the fame and success of the sex-partying YouTuber, who, of course, is staying at the best hotel in town with a gaggle of artistes and scenesters.
But, perhaps most of all, the depressive director disdains the influencer’s impenetrable cheerfulness. Misery does not always love company.However, artists always need money, and Firstman offers to Venmo an advance, so Silva agrees to host Firstman at his studio in Mexico City, where they can bang out a formal pitch for the project.
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