#4 moons

[haveyouseenthisqueerfilm]

Have you seen 4 Moons (2014)?

Yes

No

I've never heard of this film

Voting ended onDec 14, 2023

[eveningspirit]

2020

I want 2020 to be better. I want to make plans, make new year resolutions. Keeping them is a different thing, but I want to have a point of reference. It helps me. So, don’t criticize. ;)

Fanfic-wise I have three stories in the works. Two of them have a couple chapters posted - Reignite and Storm I Believe in. There’s a third story I kind of started. I want to continue all three. I’m not sure I can make some frame of whens and hows, hm... I guess I’d like to finish Reignite before the new season of RNM rolls in. It’s about ten more chapters? So a chapter weekly? That’s... a challenge. I don’t think I can meet it, ha, but I can always try, right? :)

Storm may come up at a slower pace. The third fic is just pure self indulgence, so I don’t even know if I’ll ever post it. If I will, it will be when it’s much further along than it is now.

Now there’s another thing that I’m not sure if it will be a fanfic, or if it’ll veer toward original stuff. It’s the Alaska AU. At the moment it’s fanfic, but worldbuilding for it... whoosh. Well, on one hand it’s worth it to put some more effort into a fanfiction, but if I decide to make it a fanfic, I’ll just end up posting chapters just as i spout them and then it will not be written to the best of my abilities. So. Keeping it on the ambivalent for now... :)

Original stories under the cut for length.

Crystal Spring, I intend to spend half an hour daily on it, just as I tried until now. Except less try and more do. Other stories that I want to develop are The Specters - still and Admundir (aka 4 Moons), plus I want to take a look at two -or-three older ones, Travelers and Sentira and maybe Ananke as well.

Timeline? I’m not sure I can make any obligations re: timeline. Not with Crystal Spring for sure -- it will be written when it’s written. I can however try to make Specters my priority for January and come up with a decent plot in the first month of the year. Sounds reasonable.

Further in that vein, February would be for Admundir (which might also be kind of an RNM sci-fi AU thing, come to think about it), and next months could be dedicated to the other stories. Hm. That would take up my time until May.

Is it safe to assume I might be done with second draft of Crystal Spring Valley by then as well? It would be neat.

Okay, that’s the plan, we’ll see (in a year) how much of it I’ll get done :D )12

[hallohartje]

thoughts on 4 moons (cuatro lunas)

i can't quite remember how i discovered this film, but it was likely because a redditor posted a comprehensive masterlist of every gay film he watched and he rated this very highly. i'm trying to watch more world cinema and this seemed like a good one to put on the list. i have to say i was pleasantly surprised by how engaging and richly coloured this film was.

cuatro lunas splices together four narratives: in new moon, a young boy is attracted to his older cousin; in waxing moon, two childhood friends rekindle their friendship and their attraction leads them into a relationship; in full moon, a monogamous couple's relationship is rocked by infidelity; in waning moon, an old poet with a family frequents a gay sauna, where he falls for a beautiful hustler. none of the characters cross storylines, but the emotional beats pave way for each other.

the casting is impeccable and i enjoyed following the storylines. to me, the most engaging stories were found in waxing and waning moon. new moon's story of prepubescent desire is a little too difficult to make fresh, and the writing of full moon felt at times soap opera-esque. on the other hand, there is a sense of ground broken in waxing and waning moon. fito (cesar ramos) and leo (gustavo egelhaaf) steal every scene, and their coming together is wordless and private, until they have to deal with external perceptions. fito's fear of being out of the closet drives a wedge between the couple and subsequent arguments are messy, incoherent and all too real. parental expectations play a big role in waxing moon, and i especially loved leo's scenes with his mother (one painful, one tender).

on the other hand, how rare is it that we have the experiences of an older gay man represented with sensitivity and care? it was wonderful to see joaquin (alonso echanove) fall in love and pursue gilberto (alejandro belmonte) and find a genuine connection out of it. i had my doubts at first that the film would play joaquin's story well, that his desires would go unfilled, but the resolution to his and gilberto's connection is perhaps the most tender and bittersweet. yes, it's true that older gay men typically are unwanted or have to pay for attention, but that doesn't mean that it is purely transactional. startling beauty can come from such exchanges.

while i probably wouldn't rate this film as highly as the anonymous redditor did, i found this film extremely meaningful and one worth watching. it's a shame that film director sergio velarde has not made a film since this one. i'm going to follow his socials going forward, in hopes that he will announce a return to cinema. his husband and he also post really cute pictures on his IG so that's a plus

[hallohartje]

"An eleven year-old boy struggles to hide his attraction towards his male cousin. Two former childhood friends start a relationship, but one is afraid to come out. A monogamous gay couple is rocked by infidelity. A family man is obsessed with a hustler he meets at the sauna. Capturing desire and fear in various stages of life, director Sergio Velarde paints a spirited and sensitive portrait of gay boys and men in 21st-century Mexico."

- 4 MOONS by Sergio Tovar Velarde

[clangenstufffromwcnoob]

update 4 moons:

Deputy: Rosemoss, adult male, playful, good speaker

Beechtail, young adult female, strange, fantastic teacher

Elder: Wrenspots, senior female, calm, fantastic kitsitter

[clangenstufffromwcnoob]

The cats met another dog on patrol; Raggednut leads him away, Downystrike and Piperacorn giving support on the way back

[clangenstufffromwcnoob]

Downystrike seems to dislike Perchface

Cricketdapple seems to dislike Frondpelt

The first cat Crouchkit seems to be opening to is Wrenspots

[one-track-daily]

Paper Dollhouse 4 Moons (2018)

From the album: The Sky Looks Different Here (MoonDome)