Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Rotting in the Sun’ on MUBI, A Mystery That Lets It All Hang Out

Killing and Ketamine make natural bedfellows in Rotting in the Sun (now streaming on MUBI). This would-be detective story involving a filmmaker and an influencer makes for a different kind of mystery. Let’s just say the investigator on the case isn’t the only dick in this story.

ROTTING IN THE SUN: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: Self-loathing filmmaker Sebastián Silva (playing a lightly fictionalized version of himself) has just about had it with … everything. He mopes around complaining of ending it all, which most around him interpret as just a joke. But lo and behold, Sebastián takes off for Mexico where he intends to procure drugs for medically assisted suicide.

Along the way, he bumps into a crew with a different kind of drugs — a coterie of vain, self-obsessed influencer types led by Jordan Firstman (he of viral video fame for such works as the publicist for the fly from the VP Debate). Firstman becomes infatuated with Silva both personally and professionally, though the feelings are not returned. But Firstman’s interest in being by the filmmaker’s side may prove valuable when Silva appears to go missing … which brings him into direct conflict with Silva’s housekeeper (Catalina Saavedra) who seems to be harboring some kind of secret.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: It’s got all the dick-swinging nude beach intrigue of the French erotic thriller Stranger by the Lake with all the self-deprecating millennial satire of TV’s Search Party (which Firstman wrote for back in the show’s first season). A mixture of sex and satire, in other words.

Performance Worth Watching: Among the film’s leading actors, Catalina Saavedra is the only one playing a true character and not just a larger-than-life version of their off-screen self. As such, she shines as a cleaning lady who both tolerates and traumatizes. (And especially if you’re familiar with her titular role in Silva’s breakout film The Maid, Saavedra’s performance takes on a deliciously meta bent.)

Memorable Dialogue: “Why won’t you LIKE ME?!” screams Firstman after a particularly heated conversation with Silva. It feels fitting both for the character and the movie at large.

Sex and Skin: This is a veritable dick-stravaganza with contextually relevant full-frontal male nudity on nude beaches and at orgies. If you’ve ever complained that it feels like movies are scared of realistic depictions of sexuality, this is the movie for you!

Our Take: At virtually every opportunity, Rotting in the Sun is daring you to hate it. Silva and Firstman take their meta performances to the max, exaggerating their own flaws to make a larger statement about the vapidity and narcissism of being a creator at any scale. But I found myself in most instances wagging my finger at the screen à la Max Rockatansky: “that’s bait.” The film’s provocations ring largely hollow and certainly repetitively. Over the course of nearly two hours, Silva bludgeons the audience with scene after scene belaboring the myopia of gay men (especially white ones).

Our Call: SKIP IT. Rotting in the Sun has its moments of excellently observed cringe comedy, but they never cohere into the larger critique Silva seems to think he’s making. This is a deliberately unpleasant viewing experience to spend time with characters that Silva holds in such clear contempt. That’s not an immediately disqualifying feature for a film, though you’d expect a little more than the one-note and obvious satire to justify spending 111 minutes with it.

Marshall Shaffer is a New York-based freelance film journalist. In addition to Decider, his work has also appeared on Slashfilm, Slant, The Playlist and many other outlets. Some day soon, everyone will realize how right he is about Spring Breakers.