Night Stage
Sex, theatre and politics provide the ingredients for Filipe Matzembacher and Marcio Reolon’s misjudged erotic drama from Brazil.
Image courtesy of Peccadillo Pictures.
by MANSEL STIMPSON
At the 2025 Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival Night Stage won two awards, one for best Brazilian film and the other for best screenplay. It is a piece that was written by its co-directors Filipe Matzembacher and Marcio Reolon. But, despite winning that screenplay award, this film comes as something of a disappointment after 2018’s Hard Paint which was also a shared endeavour and rested securely on a central relationship which the writing captured so well in all its complexity. This time around a competently mounted film is let down by a screenplay that goes off in too many directions and fails to cohere convincingly.
Despite that misjudgment the first half of Night Stage works well and for a gay movie it has the advantage of having a strong sensual appeal. Like Hard Paint it is set in Porto Alegre, the city in southern Brazil which was indeed the birthplace of both Matzembacher and Reolon. Oddly enough the film divides into two distinct phases with the break coming at the halfway mark (although the film is shot in wide screen, this almost feels set up to suit a TV screening over two evenings!) In the event this structure brings home the fact that the first hour of Night Stage works far better than the second, a fact for which the able cast are in no way to blame.
The film begins in a theatre where the central character, Matias Oliveira (Gabriel Faryas), is rehearsing alongside his flat mate, Fabio (Henrique Barreira). We learn that Matias is in Porto Alegre having had a successful audition to join an established theatre group in the city run by Larissa (Larissa Sanguiné). From what we see of their work their style is a mix of dance and drama and it is experimental enough for the way in which the current piece will end to be in doubt throughout the rehearsals. It does, however, become clear that in the final scene a character will take a fall: it will either be the one played by Matias or the one that Fabio is enacting and the survivor will be left to take the spotlight in a final speech.
Unlike Fabio, Matias is gay but the two men get along as friendly companions, or seem to do so. However, on stage a rivalry grows which is heightened by the issue of which of the two will be the triumphant survivor. The sense of being in competition is further increased when Fabio is spotted by a casting director (Kaya Rodrigues) as potentially suitable for a key role in a TV series that is being directed by Sofia Alcantara (Gabriela Grecco). Learning that Fabio has been asked to audition, the ambitious Matias finds a way to be considered too. By the time that Sofia is in the audience for the play’s opening night, both men see this as the chance to win her decisive approval and the tension as to who will be the survivor and have the closing limelight is even more intense.
Alongside the film’s portrayal of these growing tensions, Night Stage is also the story of the relationship that develops between Matias and a man with whom he has arranged a date through an app. This is Rafael Mendes (Cirillo Luna) who is settled in Porto Alegre where he has a post in a business that deals in construction and real estate. His role there is important enough for him to have a security officer to look after him, this being Camilo (Ivo Müller). Rafael readily seeks sexual partners but is not looking for a relationship. However, on encountering Matias, he senses an attachment which causes him to abandon his usual insistence on not going beyond a one-night stand. We learn also that Rafael now has new ambitions and is seeking to be elected as mayor. In effect, both sides of the story being told come to reflect the situation of gay people in Brazil today. There is a degree of acceptance which means that Matias can be chosen for a lead role in a popular TV series and that Rafael can be put forward as a mayoral candidate. Nevertheless, Matias will be told not to publicise his sexuality and will be informed that he will be fired should any behaviour of his have an adverse effect on the popularity of the series and Rafael will be aware that on his part discretion is necessary to avoid putting off those sponsoring his campaign to become mayor.
The various aspects that come into play work well together in the film’s first half but the later developments in the plot are far less effective. One oddity here is the way in which publicity for Night Stage emphasises the fact that, despite the increasing need for secrecy, Matias and Rafael develop an addiction to public sex. That is a subject rarely touched on in gay cinema and one gets the impression that it will be a central issue yet in the event we are halfway through the film before this theme is even brought in. But the real problem is that the second half becomes increasingly unhinged. We suddenly find a new level of melodrama with blackmail leading to violence in a way which feels like a swerve into Hitchcock territory after which there is an unexpected sequence, a digression as Matias is seen working on his TV role. Ultimately it comes to look as though, despite the pressures that have arisen to keep Matias and Rafael apart, they will get together again albeit in a cruising area which has featured earlier in the film. But, however one may hope that it will play out, it is unfortunate that the climax relies on a character who has already been spotlighted as the villain of the piece becoming even more villainous and doing so in a way that no longer carries any convincing motivation for his actions. Consequently, what had started out as an effective dramatic tale played by attractive actors and handled with technical assurance loses its way. This is a pity because there is plenty in the movie which will have strong appeal especially for gay audiences.
Original title: Ato Noturno.
Cast: Gabriel Faryas, Cirillo Luna, Henrique Barreira, Ivo Müller, Kaya Rodrigues, Larissa Sanguiné, Gabriela Grecco, Antônio Czamansky, Thais Diedrich, Paula Finn, Fernanda Roggia, Luiza Waichel.
Dir Filipe Matzembacher and Marcio Reolon,Pro Filipe Matzembacher, Marcio Reolon, Jéssica Luz and Paola Wink, Screenplay Filipe Matzembacher and Marcio Reolon, Ph Luciana Baseggio, Pro Des Manuela Falcäo, Ed Germano de Oliveira, Music Thiago Pethit, Arthur Decloedt and Charles Tixier, Costumes Carolina Leão.
Avante Filmes/Vulcana Cinema/Vitrine Filmes-Peccadillo Pictures.
117 mins. Brazil. 2025. US Rel (Frameline): 28 June 2025. UK Rel: 3 April 2026. Cert. 18.