O Fantasma

No one can live without love . . . By day, brooding, lonely Sergio works as a trash collector in the streets of Lisbon. By night, Sergio embarks on an increasingly intense odyssey of random, anonymous sexual encounters. Quickly, Sergio becomes fixated on a hot, young stranger and begins to retreat further and further into his dark dream life, blurring the lines between fantasy and reality, love and obsession.

A dog barks and scratches at a closed door. A pair of eyes peer from behind a black rubber mask. Sérgio built the world to his measure. Chased by an insatiable desire, he only plays to win. Indifferent to everything, he spends his hours tied to the loneliness of a cheap bed-and-breakfast, anonymous sex with men, and a job as a rubbish collector in the North of Lisbon.

He is consumed by an insatiable desire, but one night, his eyes find the phantom of his dreams.

Sérgio spies on him. He finds an old swimsuit in his rubbish. Entranced, he puts it on. He follows him in the swimming pool. He knows that he's not in control of the game, yet he continues, knowing he will inevitably lose.

And the hands that wished to caress remain cuffed, addicted to rejection. Only revenge remains. And the mask of desire, the latex suit, becomes his final dwelling. Now he is alone, no longer of this world.

The tough, artistic masterpiece "O Fantasma" teaches us a thing or two about dissecting, aggravating, and uncompromisingly visualizing insatiable gay lust, (with a dab of sado-masochistic fetish thrown in for good measure!)