Longing Nights

By: Robert O'Neill
In-House Review - Oct 01 2013

Following the bed-hopping adventures of numerous Spanish 20-somethings - gay, straight, bisexual, transgender and genderqueer alike - Longing Nights feels like the feature-length adaptation of a Calvin Klein commercial from the '90s (only in color).

The film is extremely light on story and character development, but heavy on erotic, stylishly choreographed sex scenes - some of which seem like they may be unsimulated (though the camera always remains at non-pornographic angles). First-time director Tiago Leão could use a better lighting designer (most scenes are far darker than they should be), but has an eye for composition. All he needs now is a script with something more to say than "young people love and have lots of sex, but both leave them largely unfulfilled."

I would be tempted to call the characters here vapid, but I didn't get to know them well enough to make that judgment. They're all pretty - which works just fine in a film that is only concerned with surfaces. Your level of enjoyment will be directly related to how much you enjoy staring at good-looking, but unknowable hipsters from Madrid. Maybe hit the "mute" button, add you own soundtrack and just enjoy the scenery - you won't miss any important plot points.