MQFF diary Part the Fourth

An endearing Swedish drama about love and family, Patrik 1.5 aka Patrik, Age 1.5 sees gay couple Göran (Gustaf Skarsgård) and Sven Skoogh (Torkel Peterson) moving into a new home in preparation for the impending adoption of their baby son. Stresses soon arise over difficulties with the neighbours, not all of whom are thrilled about the pair moving in next door, and are compounded by Sven's drinking and his relationship with his ex-wife; but when, due to a clerical error, the couple are lumbered with a homophobic 15-year old with a criminal past (Tom Ljungman) instead of the one and a half year old boy they were expecting, fault lines rapidly begin to emerge in the Skooghs' relationship.

Like many genre films - for Patrik 1.5 is eventually a contemporary take on the rom-com formula - the joy of this movie is not the fairly predictable outcome, but the unexpected twists the story takes in getting there. Strong production values, a solid script that mostly manages to avoid trite sentiment and false notes, and excellent performances - especially from young Tom Ljungman, who gets Patrik's blend of bravado and loneliness just right - coupled with a light directorial touch by Ella Lemhagen, result in a rich, warm and charming feature that will have you smiling long after the closing credits have run their course.

Lesbian feature Hua Chi Liao Na Nu Hai (Candy Rain), a quartet of four loosely overlapping stories set in Teipei, the Taiwanese capital, is the debut feature from director Chen Hung-I. This fragmented, self-conscious drama is the sort of fare that's perfect for a relaxed Saturday afternoon, when you can ease into its eclectic pace and acclimatise yourself to its video clip-style sensibilities. On a Monday night, straight after a shitty day at work, I was too tense to really enjoy its Wong Kar-Wai-lite construction. After two of the four segments I retreated to the festival club for dinner and a relaxing glass of wine, and steeled myself for the next session.

After tonight, the gothic Mexican drama Quemar Las Naves (Burn the Bridges) is my favourite film at this year's MQFF to date.

Given the abundance of baroque elements which make up the plot - a decaying family home, a dying mother, a poisonously close relationship between a brother and sister, Catholicism, tortured homoeroticism and adolescent longing - and that it's the debut feature from director and co-writer Francisco Franco, it would have been easy for Burn the Bridges to descend into a maelstrom of cliche and stupidity. Instead, it's a remarkable, memorable and thoroughly beautiful film.

Helena (Irene Azuela, who rightly won Mexico's 2008 Mejor Actriz award for this role) and her younger brother Sebastián (Ángel Onésimo Nevares) live with their dying mother, Eugenia (Claudette Maille), once a famous singer, and Eugenia's devoted maid, Chaya (Aida Lopez) in a once-grand mansion in Zacatecas. The highly strung Helena and Sebastián are close - very close - but when Sebastián falls in love with a scarred and scowling new boy at his school, Juan (Bernardo Benitez), Helena begins to fret and fume that she might lose her brother and her control over him. The jealous devotion of Sebastián's handsome best friend, the pampered Ismael (Ramon Valdes), is the final spark that sets the film's smouldering tensions ablaze.

Featuring some remarkable visual flourishes, and excellent performances from its relatively young cast - especially Irene Azuela, whose portrayal of Helena could easily have slid into camp melodrama - Burn the Bridges is my must-see film of the 2009 festival. What a shame it only had one screening.

Find Part the First of my MQFF journal here, Part the Second here, and Part the Third here. Additional MQFF reviews can be read here, and also on Twittter by following rperdio and walypala. Alternatively just go to Twitter and search for 'MQFF'.