Modern queer cinema has undergone quite a shift in the kinds of stories being told, with the darker and more unsettling conversations around identity and sexuality becoming a common theme in contemporary depictions of LGBTQIA+ life. Marco Berger has made some impressive films that centre on some more complex themes within the community, and while some of them are achingly beautiful, a couple veer towards the more disquieting side, looking at the negotiation between an individual’s identity and their surroundings, which is not always the most pleasant experience when growing up in a society less-accepting of deviant identities and perspectives. Berger has used both his Argentine heritage and experiences as a young gay man who came of age in the early parts of the 21st century to explore the lives of characters very much based on reality. Young Hunter (Spanish: El Cazador) is a fascinating account of a young man working his way through an urban landscape throughout a summer during his teenage years, trying to satiate his desire for intimacy, only to be thrown into a state of existential despair after falling victim to the malicious behaviour of a predator, who begins to lead him through a series of challenges, blackmailing him with the promise of exposing his supposed misdeeds if he does not surrender to his demands. It’s a harrowing, haunting portrait of a young man in a potentially dangerous situation, as well as a poignant exploration of his experiences trying to find his way through a tense environment in which his identity is viewed as nothing if not contradictory to the values of his community. An absolute triumph from one of the best contemporary queer artists, Young Hunter is an extraordinary achievement, and a staggering work centred on the concept of queer desire, which has rarely been more complex than in this stunning film.

There is a fallacy around the fact that coming-of-age stories always need to be inspirational. The belief is that audiences don’t want to see films that remind them of the harsher realities of life – instead, they want to engage with stories that are uplifting and endearing, giving us a hopeful glimpse into the lives of people navigating treacherous territory, with the promise that it will all get better once they overcome whatever obstacles lay ahead of them. The problem is, life is seldom perfect, and sometimes it doesn’t get better, and the obstacles are insurmountable – and while we all yearn for a happy ending, the reality doesn’t always allow this to be feasible. Berger is using this as the starting point for Young Hunter, in which the main character is a young man who finds himself leaping between different challenges while trying to not only come to terms with his identity but also find a way to quench the rabid desire that came coupled with his developing sexual identity. Berger is well aware of the potential for controversy, especially since this film is looking at a slightly younger character, focusing on someone who has not yet fully reached adulthood but wants to be treated like he is as mature as the men he actively pursues, which is why he finds himself in the precarious situation that sets off the events of the film as a whole. There’s a precision to this film and its narrative that can only be represented by a director fully in command of every theme, including those that are slightly more challenging, but which turn out to be some of the most captivating of the entire film, especially since the director is not afraid to court controversy, guided by the belief that what he is doing is not romantizing predatory behaviour or lambasting the victims of sexual violence, but rather providing a bleak and vivid depiction of a reality many faces, and the circumstances that surround these scenarios, which can be perilous for those who aren’t prepared to face the perils that come with blind desire and the total lack of foresight that cause innocent people to face moral and psychological corruption.

Berger’s films are always focused on finding the intricate details in even the most complex stories. He is one of the most exciting voices in slower-paced cinema, where he doesn’t need to resort to excess to get his message across. Instead, he creates a film that is deliberately slower, which allows him to meditate on some of the more complex issues that underpin the story, and which make Young Hunter such a compelling but disturbing work, which is attributed to the very raw nature of the story and its execution, which is based on the concept of social realism, a style that has governed much of the director’s work and which has made him one of the foremost cultural critics on several issues. There’s a certain admirable quality about taking a story as seemingly ambigious as this and working around some very disturbing details to find a powerful and poignant depiction of identity, which is a theme that is explored in many other works, but rarely with the level of vivacity and complexity that we see here. Berger has a terrific way of working with difficult subjects, taking his stories to the bleeding edge of modern discourse, and still managing to disrupt our often tranquil understanding of society and how it functions. It’s, not a film that necessarily lends itself to a particularly entertaining experience, but the pure artistry embedded deep within the director’s style, coupled with his ability to plumb the emotional depths of a truly harrowing story, creates a transfixing environment in which we are both engaged and disturbed in equal measure, which incites a truly uncomfortable but thought-provoking experience, the likes of which we rarely come across in these stories.

Young Hunter is a film that revolves around the experiences of a young man questioning his sexuality and realizing the depths of his desires, and how dangerous they can be without the appropriate level of caution, which is a realization that comes much too late since he finds himself in the clutches of a very dangerous predator that causes him to teeter dangerously close on a complete breakdown. This is a character-driven film, so it only makes sense that Berger approaches the story as such – and every decision made throughout this film ends up being in service of his protagonist, who is played beautifully by Juan Pablo Cestaro. This is not an easy role – it requires someone young enough to convincingly play this inexperienced, naive young man, but also possesses enough talent to understand the nuances embedded deep within the character, which is essentially what the entire film hinges on. Cestaro is extraordinary – it’s a quiet performance with very few outbursts or moments where the actor has to go above and beyond the more brooding nature of the film, and he plays every scene with such incredible authenticity, helping the director realize his vision without impeding on the sense of realism that is so integral to the success of the film. It is mostly a showcase for his performance, but there is a wide supporting cast that is just as strong, playing smaller roles that are equally important to establish a very particular tone and sense of foreboding danger – Lautaro Rodríguez and Juan Barberini are both charismatic and terrifying as the main players in the scandal that serves as the central conflict, taking on these villainous, conflicted roles with such dedication, fitting perfectly into Berger’s vision, often even elevating it to a point where there is very little left for our interpretation since these performances are so uniformly strong, we know everything we need to know to understand their perspective, especially about the main character, whose entire life and mental wellbeing becomes their greatest asset, and through whom every detail of these performances is filtered in this film’s continued pursuit of a deeper set of questions.

There is a level of intricacy required when constructing this film, which is essentially nothing more than a series of moments in the life of a young man exploring his sexuality, and finding himself entrapped in a situation for which he was not even vaguely prepared, leading to not only a scenario where he is questioning his identity, but also fighting for survival, which proves to be immensely difficult the further he immerses himself in this world. Berger is a master of his craft, and while this film is undeniably more rough around the edges than we’d expect, there’s a nuance in how he constructs it that carries an abundance of meaning and allows the film to be a masterful exploration of a young man’s sexual awakening in contrast to his conservative, working-class surroundings. It’s a gorgeous film, and one that is anchored by an astonishing performance by the young lead, who makes a remarkable impression with this subtle but memorable portrayal of the main character, who is undergoing an elaborate crisis of identity, one built from his belief that his desires, as supposedly deviant as they may be, are too immense to ignore, which leads to a scenario where all he can do is quite simply run away from the situation, which is proven to be far too difficult to escape, at least without the appropriate amount of effort, which adds complexity to this already layered film. It’s a masterful work of slow, meaningful social realism, and an absolute triumph of contemporary queer cinema, especially that niche but important sub-category that shows that there is not always salvation on the other side of the rainbow and that sometimes this is a perilous life to lead, even if that is purely the result of malignant individuals and their refusal to see the queer community as equal.