Joy and Sorrow in a Queer Chosen Family

Growing old happily and healthily together: that’s the dream for many couples, queer or not. Alejandro (Ernesto Larrese) and Pedro (Claudio Da Passano) are well on their way to making that dream come true, even though there are a few health hurdles and both worry that the other treats alcohol or nicotine a bit too casually. Yet tonight, one eye must be kept on the past, because the longtime pair has invited their closest friends to properly celebrate Alejandro’s 70th birthday.

The guests, however, bring with them not only small gifts and a trove of shared memories, but also a good deal of ballast: There’s Edgardo (Javier Rodríguez Cano) and Miguel (Nicolás Di Pace), whose home harmony is currently off-kilter because Edgardo suspects Miguel recently had sex with someone without telling him—that breaches their agreement about sex outside the relationship. Also in attendance are Mabel (Estela Garelli) and Ricardo (Edgardo Moreira): He still loves her in some way, but he can’t stand him anymore.

Additionally, Pedro’s niece Jimena (Natalia Morlacci) arrives, as usual accompanied by Marita (Karina Hernández); Alejandro and Pedro suspect they’re a couple, but so far they haven’t come out. Equally young is Fabian (Fernando Dente), who brings his new boyfriend Pablo (Hernán Morán), whom everyone finds incredibly sexy. And there’s Germán (Osmar Núñez), who continues to mourn his late longtime partner and initially didn’t want to come at all.

As hard as everyone tries to keep their problems, secrets, and fears to themselves to avoid drama and to give Alejandro a festive birthday, they’re hardly successful. Most explosive: the guy Miguel recently had secret sex with turns out to be Pablo, Fabian’s new boyfriend. The young couple is not yet exclusive, but when Miguel texts Pablo in the middle of the party that he wants to bed him after dinner, Pablo finds that a bit much. At the same time, Edgardo vents to Pedro in the kitchen, confessing that he fears their relationship could be in danger.

Plans for a Family, Aging, and Death

Jimena and Marita come out as a couple during the appetizer, announcing they will not only move in together soon but also want to have children. This latter development irritates Ricardo, who fires off a string of old-fashioned, conservative questions that visibly annoy his wife. Through all the grand and small dramas of this queer chosen family runs a faint thread of melancholy, as the longtime friends drift through memories of days gone by when they were young and their lives brimmed with excitement and possibility.

What is especially moving is Germán’s situation: in a quiet moment in the kitchen, he tells Pedro that he recently tested positive for HIV. Later he shows him a love letter from his deceased partner, which he can recite from memory. “Sixty, without Alberto and with HIV — that’s not how I pictured it,” he explains, speaking to the reality many older couples face, fearing they’ll be left alone after the death of the beloved partner.

A Film That Lingers

“Blue Lights” unfolds over a single evening in almost one location, yet it threads through a range of life’s big themes. Not every drama and conflict lands with equal force, but some of them linger days later—thanks in part to the excellent, carefully assembled ensemble.

The Argentine director and screenwriter Lucas Santa Ana has already crafted several queer films. With “Blue Lights,” he has said in an interview that his aim was to probe the complexity of love, age, loss, and social change. That may be an ambitious aim for a feature film of roughly 100 minutes that at best only scratches the surface—but he makes it entertaining and moving enough that it might spur some viewers to engage more deeply with these big questions about life.