Either Julián Hernández is a depressed sexaholic or that's what he's trying to turn the rest of us into. His first feature, A Thousand Clouds of Peace, followed a young man on a sexual odyssey as he tried to get over being dumped. It was in black and white, ran 80 minutes and contained little dialogue. Critics were divided. I gave it a positive review but it wasn't my thumb that was pointing upward.
Hernández's second feature, Broken Sky ( the Mexican title, El Cielo Dividido, has been removed from the English-subtitled version ) is in color, runs 140 minutes ( which may make it the longest queer film ever ) and contains even less dialogue. It has two protagonists, lovers who break up, but no more of a plot.
A master of moods, Hernández creates tone poems that will be too arty for the average viewer, gay or straight. There's much that's good in Broken Sky and considering how little happens, the time passed relatively quickly for me.
The film opens with a scene reminiscent of Gus Van Sant's Elephant, as Gerardo ( Miguel Angel Hoppe ) takes a long walk across the university campus. He finds Jonás ( Fernando Arroyo ) and they go off to fuck. This is the film's hottest ( though still softcore ) sex scene and it's over in the first ten minutes. After that Hernández throws in sex and/or frontal nudity every half-hour to make sure you're awake.
There's half an hour of romance, as Gerardo and Jonás meet, walk, kiss ( in public and private ) , dance, wait for each other and play hide and seek in the university library. In most films this would be a montage of up to three minutes. Jonás becomes interested in Bruno ( Ignacio Pereda ) and he and Gerardo spend the next hour breaking up. They're still living together but Jonás is less receptive toward Gerardo; even when he's willing he's not enthusiastic.
Gerardo, who is neither rico nor suave, has managed to attract a stalker, Sergio ( Alejandro Rojo ) , to whom he eventually yields. He moves out of Jonás' apartment and back in with his mother. He goes through the whole love thing again but it doesn't seem as genuine this time. Jonás realizes his mistake and starts stalking Gerardo.
There are three possible endings this could be leading to, none of them original. Jonás could go all Glenn Close on Gerardo's ass in a gay Fatal Attraction. It could be a gay Fantasticks, where the sadder but wiser lovers reunite in the end. Or it could be The Gay We Were, where they're still in love with each other but move on with their lives.
The excellent cinematography of Alejandro Cantú makes all this watchable. He and Hernández collaborate on editing tricks in which pans that seem to be continuous find the same person in different places or different people in the same place.
Since the men almost never say anything, a narrator ( Ortos Soyus ) occasionally fills us in on what they're thinking or feeling. Pop song lyrics also comment on the action.
If a tell-me-a-story-and-get-it-over-with guy like me can appreciate Broken Sky as much as I did it must have something going for it; but I liked the hour-shorter A Thousand Clouds of Peace more, so Hernández shouldn't push his luck.
I couldn't help thinking of Empire, Andy Warhol's legendary 1964 film that's reportedly ( has anyone actually watched the whole thing? ) an eight-hour static shot of the Empire State Building. Julián Hernández could remake it as a love story.