source: Playdurizm

I enjoyed very much the progression of the movie. The spectator, like the main character, Demir, is lost and confused in a senseless plot. But this labyrinth has a logic of its own, and it's worth drifting along the way. A psychoanalytic interpretation would pair well with a queer perspective. I also enjoyed how Gem Deger was able to combine and resuscitate the flashy pop aesthetic of Gregg Araki's teenage trilogy with the morbid touch of a necro-romance à la Bruce LaBruce. It's like going back to the best of the queer underground cinema from the 90s. It's a daring, refreshing and promising debut.

Learning about the movie festival during the last two weeks it ran for after seeing it mentioned in a review by Anton Bitel,I was thrilled to learn that the Soho Horror Film Festival would be returning online, for a weekend focused on Horror features and shorts by LGBT film makers. This time determined to catch all the titles from the opening day onwards,I got set to enter the playdurizm. Note:This review contains some plot details. View on the film: Channel surfing through his TV into an alternative reality where the dream hunk from his favourite telly hunk embraces him with his muscular arms, lead actor/co-writer (with Morris Stuttard)/director Gem Deger plugs in his screen debut by closely working with cinematographer Cedric Larvoire to stylishly tune Demir onto a new reality. Deger & Larvoire unleash melting, abrasive saturated neon colours being whipped across the screen, until bursting into a sinking fever dream Horror mood, as slippery panning shots reveal Demir's fantasy to be turning into a nightmare. Whilst displaying an impressive level of ambition for the first project he has ever done, Gem Deger gives a debut performance as Demir, which is sadly extremely grating, due to his gurning and off into the distance gaze always being placed at the centre of the screen, which squeezes his fellow cast members into the corner of the screen. Dipping into a screen where Demir's lust and desires can be fulfilled, the screenplay by Deger and Stuttard attempts to explore lust being a velvet glove of fantasy over horrific traumas Demir's has suffered. Attempting a twist ending which looks behind the mask of the dream lad and the horror Demir has attempted to cut himself from, the writers sadly block the ending from making a full impact,due to long, draining hazy conversations between Demir and dreamy hunk Andrew, which aim to wash-over as dream-logic, but get vomited up as a plodding mess over the playdurizm.

"Playdurizm" starts off mysterious, and it maintains suspense for a long time. It took me a long time to figure out what is really happening in the story. I like the contrast between the flat and the actual reality of the film. There is plenty of eye candy as well, which is a plus. I enjoyed watching it.

Exactly what my review title just said. I don't get any single thing of the stuff happened in the movie. Except for the rape. The other stuff didn't make any sense to me.

Playdurizm