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These Peculiar Days DVD review

These Peculiar Days
Credit TLA Releasing

Eight high school friends come together for one last time during summer weekend away in a remote cabin in the wood. Isabel’s (Sofia Sylwin) ex-boyfriend Román (Gerardo Del Razo) decides to join them in the hope of winning Isabel back. The weekend goes anything but smoothly as tempers flare, tensions rise and the group pushes themselves outside of their own sexual boundaries.

These Peculiar Days is the latest film from writer/director Chuco E. Quintero (Velociraptor) and it puts a large number of people in a very claustrophobic situation. It captures the intricate workings of a teenage friendships well with relationships changing at a moment’s notice and sexual curiosity often getting the better of them. The character that goes through the biggest journey is Román. On arrival at the cabin he has eyes only for Isabel until his head is turned by Oscar (Carlos Hendrick Huber). Their relationship is an exploration of being young and trying to understand the difference between love and lust.

These Peculiar Days
Credit TLA Releasing

Sex run throughout the film with the group frequently getting frisky in a variety of combinations. Some characters are simply enjoying each other while others see it as an opportunity to branch out and explore their sexuality. One particular threesome starts off a bit reluctantly until one of the guys realises he actually enjoys being rimmed, regardless of whether it’s a man or a woman that’s doing it. What Quintero tries to capture here is the evolving nature of young people and their attitudes to sexual fluidity, something that he manages to do well.

The film isn’t completely successful though. With so many characters to focus on, some of them inevitably get left by the wayside. Characters’ backstories are explained by way of flashbacks and these often feel intrusive, detracting from the main plot rather than adding very much. The acting is hit-and-miss too. Gerardo Del Razo and Carlos Hendrick Huber are by far the strongest and much of the rest of the cast struggles to match them onscreen.

These Peculiar Days
Credit TLA Releasing

These Peculiar Days is an enjoyable enough watch but it doesn’t quite all hang together. At times meandering, at others a little dull, the film has some interesting idea but it never fully realises its potential. Had the group been reduced down to four or five characters, there would have been more room for the storylines to breathe and do justice to the characters that hold your interest. These Peculiar Days is erotically charged and in many ways a coming-of-age film but it lacks the impact and punch that it could have had due to the loose narrative and characterisation.

Cast: Gerardo Del Razo, Sofia Sylwin, Carlos Hendrick Huber, Axel Arenas, Christopher Aguilasocho, Carolina Gómez, Ana Lourdes Zamarrón, Max Thomsen Director: Chucho E. Quintero Writer: Chucho E. Quintero Certificate: 18 Duration: 101 mins Released by: TLA Releasing Release date: 9th December 2019 Buy These Peculiar Days

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Pip Ellwood-Hughes Editor / Owner
Pip is the owner and Editor of Entertainment Focus, and the Managing Director of Piñata Media.

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