Plan B

Bruno (Manuel Vignau) is a man on a quest to win back his ex-girlfriend Laura (Mercedes Quinteros), but to do this he must break up her relationship with the attractive photographer Pablo (Lucas Ferraro) and thus he formulates a plan. After making friends with Pablo, Bruno makes a discovery about Pablo’s sexuality and creates a ‘plan B’ to expose it to Laura. The plan, however, backfires when Bruno realises he has feelings for Pablo.

If there is one adjective that could aptly describe Plan B it is ‘naturalistic’. The dialogue has an improvised quality and, despite a couple of slightly contrived moments that force Bruno and Pablo into intimacy, the tenderness between the two is wholly believable. This naturalistic quality extends to the technical elements, too, with the use of natural lighting and sound, and the director's lingering shooting style.

Where Plan B falters is that the story of the love triangle is almost entirely a subtext for Bruno and Pablo’s emotional and sexual exploration, leaving a void plot wise, where there should be tension. As a comparison point, Y Tu Mama Tambien similarly explores love and sexuality between two men who considered themselves straight, but is a largely richer and more successful film, in that a woman is a part of the process of discovery. In Plan B, Laura gets the short shrift as a character, merely used as a Macguffin of sorts, solely existing in order to bring the two men together.

Despite being slightly reductive, this low budget Argentinean film is still largely a sweet and honest portrayal of two men falling in love, helped by the strong performances of the two lead actors. Marco Berger’s intimate direction feels at home with the story, which is made all the more impressive given that this is his debut feature film and only took 10 days to shoot.