Fuchsia Libre (2024) Movie Review – A confused and borderline offensive sports drama

A confused and borderline offensive sports drama

Fuchsia Libre tells the story of a young gay man named Oliver (Paolo Contis) who struggles to win the acceptance of his homophobic father, a policeman named Danilo (John Arcilla). It’s a plot point we have seen many times before but this new Filipino movie isn’t just an emotional father-son drama about ‘coming out’ and dealing with prejudice.

It’s also a crime movie and a sports drama about wrestling, so this isn’t your average LGBTQ+ movie about a dysfunctional family relationship. Unfortunately, it’s the mix of genres that scuppers the film as it tries to do too much within its nearly two-hour running time and ultimately becomes quite frustrating. 

Story

Oliver works at a gym but his job is threatened when his boss announces he might have to close the place down for financial reasons. Understandably, this is bad news for Oliver, more so because the gym is a place where he feels accepted due to the mostly gay workforce. 

To save the gym from closure, Oliver joins an underground wrestling circuit and takes on the alter ego of Fuchsia Libre, a wrestler with a camp fighting style and even camper outfit. He stands the chance of making a lot of money by wrestling and there’s a chance he might win his father’s acceptance too. That’s if he can make it out of the ring alive. Patron, the sinister boss of the fight club, cares little about whether his wrestlers live or die, which is obviously bad news for Oliver and the people he fights against.

Early on in the film, we discover Danilo is working undercover at the club as a means of ending Patron’s criminal activities. He takes an interest in Fuchsia as he thinks the new wrestler could be the key to bringing Patron down. As Fuchsia wears a mask, Danilo has no awareness that his unwitting accomplice is also his son.

Oliver starts to earn his father’s acceptance under the guise of his wrestling persona. This gives him the incentive to carry on fighting, even when he realizes his life may be in danger. The plot continues from there but we’ll say no more about the story in fear of giving away spoilers.

Review

There’s a lot going on in the film – too much really, with its mix of family melodrama, crime thriller, and save the gym from closure drama – meaning the interweaving plot lines eventually become quite wearying. The tangled narrative isn’t the only problem I had with the film though. Also at fault are the characterizations of Oliver and his gay friends, as they are all stereotypically camp, almost offensively so. The issue might lie with the actors who give their characters as many ‘gay’ traits as possible, though the director can also be held accountable for not reining in their extravagant performances. 

On top of this problem is the confused tone. On the surface, the movie is a serious drama about a young man’s search for acceptance from his prejudiced dad. The scenes of them together are sometimes quite touching and possibly relatable too, as many people in the gay community have had to deal with masculine fathers who don’t want their sons to be queer. 

But outside of the emotional aspects of the plot is a comedy. This is more apparent during the moments when Oliver and his gay friends are together. Their interactions are supposed to be funny, more so because of their exaggerated gayness, but in all honesty, these scenes are actually quite cringy as a consequence of the over-the-top acting. 

Then there are the scenes at the wrestling club which are occasionally very violent. There’s one particular scene when Patron uses a knife to cut up the face of one of the wrestlers who has wronged him. It’s a nasty moment, fuelled by the maniacal glee of the villain, who is as much a caricature as Oliver and his gay pals. 

This tonal mishmash does not work in the movie’s favour as the mix of genres undermines its good intentions. This, combined with the gay stereotyping, which some might find offensive, meams this is a movie that is hard to recommend, even to gay audiences looking for an inspirational tale about a queer man overcoming adversity. 

With a less muddled script and more authentic performances from the cast, this may have been okay. But as it stands, it’s a massive disappointment that, on an emotional and storytelling level, fails to deliver a knockout blow.

Read More: Fuchsia Libre Ending Explained

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