The spicy Brazilian import, “The Senator,” available on demand and digital, Sept. 24, looks as generic as its title. Writer/director Mauro Carvalho’s film is extremely low budget, featuring a half dozen actors and a handful of bland sets. This limitation undercuts the potential of this juicy drama because Carvalho has a good story to tell.
Victor (João Cury) is a reporter who is arrested by the police because Senator Arthur Alencar (Sergio Harger) has been murdered. As Detective Carlos (PH Mendes) investigates, the film recounts what happened through various flashbacks.
The first interviewee is Renan (Johnny Alcántara), a student who was receiving money, an apartment, as well as other gifts, from Senator Alencar. Cut to the Senator asking Renan to wear a jockstrap followed by a sex scene between them. However, this erotic encounter also involves some friction between the politician and his “rent boy” because Renan feels the married Senator does not listen to his ambitions and keeps him trapped in the apartment.
“The Senator” is not subtle, but it does not have to be. Carvalho paints broadly, with the characters defined by their good looks and their distinctive qualities. Thanks to a TV segment, the senator is shown to be a right-wing hypocrite and homophobe. This prompts Victor, a journalist, to ask his editor, Teodora (Juliana Zancanro), to let him write an exposé on the corrupt politician. Teodora agrees when Victor explains he has a contact with first-hand knowledge of the senator’s extramarital activities.
As Victor is interrogated by Detective Carlos, he describes meeting Renan through a mutual friend, Dani (Priscylla Lanferrer) and having an instant connection. (Take Victor’s word for it; the attractive actors don’t have any palpable chemistry). At a nightclub, Renan drinks too much, so Victor takes him home but does not take advantage of him. As the journalist is a gentleman, he puts Renan to bed, hopes to reconnect with him when he is sober. Victor’s integrity suggests he is innocent of murder, but the evidence indicates he has motive, means and opportunity.
Meanwhile, Renan is increasingly more frustrated with the senator, who becomes insanely jealous when Renan gets some unexpected attention from a handsome restaurateur (Elton Macedo) making a food delivery. As tensions escalate between the lovers, the senator explains that he has to “make concessions to get what I want,” which does not endear him to Renan, who wants to live authentically.
As Renan also becomes chummy with Victor, they talk and soon kiss. But Victor is initially unaware that Renan is involved with the senator. When Victor has his buddy Leandro (Patrick Cotrim) seduce the senator with a lap dance — and film the encounter for blackmail purposes — the plot thickens. But things do not play out the way the characters expect with Victor’s “help” in framing the senator actually causing problems for himself and others.
“The Senator” has fun with its low-grade thrills as it culminates with the senator’s murder, but this short (84-minute) film moves too slowly. Carvalho doesn’t build suspense as much as he lets the story unfold and the characters eventually connect. Alas, the filmmaking is not as assured as his screenplay. While he employs a filter for one sex scene to give the film some visual style, a later tryst between the senator and Renan is risible as the camera focuses on a shaking glass of liquor as Renan is sprawled across a table, submitting to the senator’s urgent thrusting. Much of the film looks amateur, which is a drawback.
The performances are also uneven. João Cury is earnest as Victor — which is appropriate for his character — but he never quite conveys the passion he has for Renan or the obsession he has for exposing the senator. Likewise, Sergio Harger is kind of one-note as the senator, even though his role involves little more than barking commands at Renan. He shows no real internal conflict about living a double life or feeling any guilt for his antigay politics. It just seems like a wasted opportunity not to go deeper. As Renan, Johnny Alcántara also struggles with the material. He tries to make his character desirable, and despairing, but only half succeeds. Arguably the best performance belongs to Juliana Zancanaro, as Teodora, who injects a little verve, especially when she probes Victor for dirt on the senator.
Carvalho ends his film with a coda that is meant to be a surprise, but viewers who pick up on some clues being dropped may see it coming. Still, it is an oddly satisfying finish for a film that lacks greater impact.
