If you’re in the audience of the psycho-thriller Lose Your Head, playing at this week’s QFest, you’ll want whatever Luis, the bad-boy Spanish protagonist, snorted in the first five minutes of the film if for no other reason than to forget the next hour and forty-two minutes of what you are about to sit through. Either that, or you’ll wish that Luis’s instinct that he is going to be murdered by Viktor, his older Ukrainian hook-up, became true so the film could end.
In all reality, Lose Your Head plays like a cautionary tale for young gay men: be careful of dirty clubs! Be careful of drugs! Don’t snort strange substances off of fake IDs in the backroom of a seedy joint! Don’t ditch your goody two-shoes boyfriend to explore Berlin on your own! If you do, you’ll end up…well, refer back to the title of the film. This blatant notion hangs over the movie like a stealth bomber.
To be fair, Fernando Tielve, who plays Luis, gives a commendable performance as a young gay man who is looking to indulge his dirtiest desires on a random expedition to Berlin. The problem ultimately comes from the script, which drags the overt and blatant action out entirely too long, not to mention that, in essence, the plot is a dream within a dream within a dream (or is that a trip, within a trip, within a trip?). Even the sex scene between Luis and Viktor is purposely raw and uncomfortable, with Viktor intentionally choking Luis’s throat with both hands as he tops him, all while Luis has flashbacks of the line of cocaine that he snorted at the start of film.
At the end of the movie, we really don’t know what happens to Luis—that’s ultimately up to the audience to decide. However, the audience absolutely DOES know that the film tries too hard to be suspenseful. And, for a good number of those who sat through the 107-minute screening, they wish they could get their hands on whatever Luis inhaled.
Having a fresh look at the film Ladies in Lavender
Ladies in Lavender may have received lukewarm reviews, but its quiet beauty and emotional depth showcase the undeniable brilliance of Dames Maggie Smith and Judi Dench. Don’t miss this melancholic gem!