Sebastián Silva is a Sundance institution unto himself. Since his breakout film in 2009 with The Maid, you can basically count on Silva to always bring his latest projects to Park City. And I have been there for pretty much all of them, including Crystal Fairy (I even interviewed him and Michael Cera a decade ago!), Magic Magic, Nasty Baby, and Tyrel. This year was the first time I’ve missed out on a Silva premiere, as his latest Rotting in the Sun…ummm, well, it’s a bit too out there even for me.
Silva gets more meta than ever with Rotting in the Sun, which sees him playing a stylized version of himself, a filmmaker who hits a gay beach in Mexico in order to unwind. There he meets an influencer played by Jordan Firstman, also as himself, and the two agree to collaborate on a project. But when Firstman goes to Mexico City in search of Silva, he’s nowhere to be found, causing the Instagram celeb to track him down.
I’ll be honest; it’s been diminishing returns with me on Silva projects, so this one didn’t rank high on my must-see list. And judging by this trailer, which features an excessive amount of male junk, it’s never going to be something I go out of my way for.
But Silva is always an interesting filmmaker with a knack for surreal dark comedy. His most devoted fans will likely flock to this one.
Here’s the synopsis: Writer-director Sebastián Silva’s Sundance hit ROTTING IN THE SUN is a darkly funny and refreshingly audacious meta-comedy that skewers the business of filmmaking and our self-obsessed culture. While unwinding at a Mexican gay beach town, depressed director Sebastián Silva meets gregarious Instagram influencer Jordan Firstman (both playing versions of themselves), and Sebastián reluctantly agrees to collaborate on an upcoming project. But when Jordan arrives back in Mexico City, Sebastián is nowhere to be found, and Jordan embarks on a wildly unpredictable, quasi-detective journey.
Rotting in the Sun hits theaters on September 8th.
