Adnan (Laith Khalifeh) is a curious gay art student seeking connection, whether it be friendship, lover or hook-up. And in Lucio Castro’s playful, timefuck flick, Drunken Noodles, the character finds all three, via different seasons in his young life.
The erotically-charged film, which premiered at Cannes as part of the Acid section, is broken into five chapters and follows Adnan as he walks, skips and bike rides in and out of the realm of queer magical realism and steamy sexual encounters—one scene, combining the two.
While in NYC, he hooks up with a food delivery driver, Yariel (Joel Issac). Later in that particular segment, Yariel brings a few hotties over for a still-life-shot orgy.
Upstate we see Adnan struggling with the fact that his sig other (Matthew Risch) doesn’t seem to desire him.
And in the most striking section, Adnan encounters Sal (Ezriel Kornel), an older gay artist he has the most satisfying sexual time with. His attraction to older men goes back to his adolescence. And I’ll leave it there.
Sal’s work is seen throughout the film. It’s a kind of X-rated needlepoint depicting men is all kinds of sexual positions.
Like its main character, Drunken Noodles is deceptive in its outward simplicity.
The narrative is peppered with surreal moments, one rather mystical one, in a forest, involving a faun-like creature, ruby slippers and a flute. And I won’t say what the mythological character does with the flute.
And there is also a head scratching sequence where one character appears to be in two different places at the same time.
I loved these touches because they allowed me to contemplate the protagonist’s inner life. His dreams, fantasies, desires that often come up against his reality.
Khalifeh, in his feature debut, is fabulously understated as Adnan. He’s the kind of super-likable character that you’d want to spend a day with, wide-eyed when he’s interested, seemingly indolent, yet playful and seductive as fuck.
The Argentinian writer-director messed around with an alternate universe structure in his trippy indie End of the Century (2019). In this new offering, the narrative jumps aren’t as confounding, but I would have loved a more satisfying ending.
A Strand Release.
Drunken Noodles is part of the Currents Section at the New York Film Festival.
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