Two people caught in a moment of quiet reflection, their bodies united in some eternal dance of pure eroticism which contrasts sharply with their psychological state, which is somewhere in between numb ennui and unhinged psychological despair – and their only method of working through these issues come in the form of movement, whether those that manifest in dance, or in more carnal ways, proving that unity is the only method of reconfiguring the demons that haunt us. These ideas form the foundation for Will-O’-the-Wisp (Portuguese: Fogo-Fátuo), the ambitious and often quite bewildering film by the brilliance João Pedro Rodrigues, who reaffirms his status as one of the most exceptionally gifted and unique auteurs working in contemporary European cinema, and someone whose perspective on art and culture has always been razor-sharp and extraordinarily subversive. Understanding and unpacking the themes at the heart of Will-O’-the-Wisp is a challenging experience, and it reflects a sense of deeply disquieting uncertainty, while still managing to be a very entertaining experience, at least if we are able to get over the initial shock of some of these scenes. Rodrigues is one of our great provocateurs, but he’s the rare breed where his films aren’t shocking for the sake of stirring a reaction, but rather to disrupt the carefully-constructed details of everyday life, which are ideas to which he is vehemently opposed, and which ultimately become a part of the storyline itself. He is a director that holds a mirror to society and forces us to question not only our social etiquette or cultural conventions, but question our own psychological state, provoking our deepest desires and creating a situation in which there is very little space for logic, which only elevates the work and makes it all the more compelling.

We occasionally find films that are so abstract in their way of thinking, they defy all sense of categorization, to the point where the best description would be to call them artistic statements more than traditional films. Will-O’-the-Wisp subverts all logic, and frequently avoids any genre, combining so many different ideas into its compact 67-minute running time, it’s easier to view it as a work of pure postmodern complexity, more than something that can be compared to other films. This film draws from many different sources of influence – it is as much as an erotic romantic drama about the growing relationship between two young men as it is a stark and foreboding cautionary tale about climate change and the importance of making small changes today that will eventually salvage whatever remnants of our rapidly deteriorating world in the future (this kind of cynicism comes on behalf of the film) – and in between these moments, it also manages to be a lavish musical, filled with extravagant dance scenes that somehow make the themes at the heart of the film even more disconcerting, a clear case of the uncanny being used as a tool to disturb and unsettle. He takes fragments of the outside world and inserts them into the film, whether weaving them into the dialogue or paying homage to a particular genre, and the result is a multilayered film composed of many different moving parts, each one detailed and complex and contributing to the overall tapestry of fertile human existence that governs most of this film and makes it such a unique experience, a film that simply refuses to be placed in a single category, and instead chooses to be built from its own merits, which is an approach many films should aspire to achieve, should they have the opportunity to dismantle conventions as freely as this film.

As is the case with many of his films (particularly The Ornithologist, which launched Rodrigues to a new level of acclaim, positioning him as one of the most genuinely gifted auteurs working at the present moment), Will-O’-the-Wisp is very much ingrained in the world of queer theory, and much like his previous work, the journey to get there is far from linear. Even if we have knowledge about the fact that the director is predisposed to stories of queer life, or at least characters that are questioning their identity, a large amount of this film takes the viewer by surprise, and we are constantly expecting to experience on a particular aspect of the story, only for it to venture in previously unchartered territory, taking us along for what is clearly a wildly unpredictable ride. Rodrigues’ work seems to be fully inspired by his refusal to adhere to conventions, so much that an hour-long surreal musical comedy that acts as an intersectional satire on the subjects of both climate change and the burgeoning homosexual relationship between a young prince and a fireman makes perfect sense, since we know that it is coming from someone who has pledged to challenge boundaries and go in pursuit of something much deeper than what we’d imagine possible from the cinematic form. He is a disruptive force in contemporary cinema, and while his work is not always accessible, it is undeniably impactful, at least in terms of artistic prowess, with very little of it feeling unnecessary or like he has placed certain elements into his film purely for the sake of dismantling expectations and keeping us engaged. You can accuse him of many different artistic misdemeanours in terms of his process of telling stories, but it’s impossible to say that Rodrigues is unoriginal, since his work reflects a deeply profound, often quite peculiar, sensibility that is singularly impossible to classify as anything other than outright genius – and this isn’t some hyperbolic praise, but rather an attempt to justify his process, since this form of artistic chaos is impossible to view as anything other than absolutely demented brilliance.

Once you step into the world of Will-O’-the-Wisp, you are transported into a different place and time. The film leaps between the past and future (and interestingly never seems to be set at the present, with the ambiguity of the middle portions of the film intentionally designed to throw us off balance in terms of temporal positioning), and covers many strange subjects. The characters are uniformly eccentric and are constructed to be just slightly off-kilter, and many common ideas are entirely subverted. The film has an almost libertine approach to sexuality (but it never becomes pornographic – the sexual encounters between characters are explicit but contain just as much artistic integrity as anything else in the film, actually managing to be quite poetic), and it never avoids graphic depictions of the budding relationship between the two leads, which is surprisingly ethereal, never being too excessive, and where the liberal use of nudity actually feels genuinely compelling, as if it is shading in these characters as they undergo this affair, rather than just as a cheap way to explore their carnal cravings. Rodrigues has a unique way of depicting desire, and while some of it does border on absurd, it does ultimately carry quite a bit of weight, at least in terms of the details that underly these moments. He’s helped along by the brilliant performances by Mauro Costa and André Cabral, who commit entirely to a story that is extraordinarily ambigious and not particularly easy to understand, and their performances reflect a similar kind of curiosity that drove Rodrigues, which adds nuance and detail to characters that are far more compelling through their detailed construction than a more conventional approach may have allowed. One has to imagine that the choice to work with Rodrigues entails embracing enormous challenges in the knowledge that the result will be brilliant – and if this film is anything to go by, it seems like it is a perfectly appropriate and worthwhile gamble.

Will-O’-the-Wisp is not an easy film to watch, despite its short length and promise of being a comedy. It certainly has a great sense of humour (you simply could not tell this story without one), but it is used in a way that could be argued as being just as disturbing as some of the themes that occur throughout the film. However, it is an experience like no other, and the entire purpose of this film was to take a few very common themes, and entirely deconstruct them, exposing every detail and rebuilding the film around many different ideas that we may not have expected at the start. At no point during this film can the viewer predict where the next scene is going to take them – whether in terms of the time period or the events depicted, every moment is unexpected, and thus we should be appropriately prepared for some truly bizarre filmmaking. However, it is not without purpose, and the director understands how to carefully tread the boundaries between provocation and distinct artistic expression. Rodrigues’ genius seemingly knows very few limits, and in his endeavour to do something new with subject matter that has been explored countless times before (including in his own previous work), he creates one of the most spectacularly polarizing masterpieces of queer cinema we have seen in years, an explicit but profoundly moving depiction of sexuality, identity and emotional catharsis that is both enthralling and thought-provoking. It is a small film, but it never fails to stir a reaction – and its nuances, combined with its genuine sense of earnest humour and ability to plumb the emotional depths of these characters as they navigate some treacherous psychological territory as they grow into their supposedly deviant identities, makes for a unique and endearing work of creative disruption, and a film that finds the perfect balance between humanity and other ethereal themes, each one perfectly developed in this beautifully unconventional work of art.