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Beatriz Torcato, Andre Barbosa, Ricardo Meneses, Eurico Vieira, Joaquim Oliveira

Shot almost entirely at night, O Fantasma chronicles a young trash collector's descent into a world of increasingly bizarre sexual encounters. Sergio (Ricardo Meneses) spends his days living in a run-... read more read more...down rented room, engaging in anonymous sex and trying to rebuff the advances of his co-worker Fatima (Beatriz Torcato). Unfulfilled by his daily sexcapades, Sergio finally gets turned on by a Tom of Finland-esque motorcyclist (Andre Barbosa), whose physical beauty becomes the source of Sergio's obsession. Sergio stalks him, eventually donning bondage gear and making the motorcyclist his love prisoner. After having his brutish way with his comely captive, Sergio vanishes into the night and prowls the city's garbage dumps in a phantasmic odyssey of sexual dysfunction and cruelty. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, Rovi

Flixster Users

49% liked it

1,122 ratings

Critics

25% liked it

16 critics

Unrated, 1 hr. 30 min.

Directed by: Joćo Pedro Rodriguez, Joćo Pedro Rodrigues

Release Date: January 1, 2001

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DVD Release Date: November 4, 2003

Stats: 73 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (73)

  • Stinger839
    December 24, 2008
    Stinger839
    My Logline: A Dirty Little Slut with a Forbidden Big Crush. A great art house portrait of loneliness, squalor, and sexual desire. Great anonymous sex scenes and some truly great erotic cinematography very partial to the callipygian lead. (I'd recommend a jerk before you watch thi... read mores if you're ten percent the horndog that this main character is). There is very little dialogue but swimming pools of unspoken communication, tense as a hard-on and spread like petroleum jelly. The grungy filth is there though; this character is a garbage worker living in the streets, garbage warehouse, and rented rooms who steals from garbage bins for masturbatory articles of clothing and sneaks about his obsession's property. Don't read past the spoiler if you want to watch this. The problem with this film is the ambiguity of the pivotal point which causes the ending of the final act. It's not the (chronologically) non-linear editing of the scenes that bothers me, but the story; BIG SPOILER - I dislike the options of scenarios that are offered regarding the outcome of the capture and rape. Problem: in one scenario (the first scene actually) the guy is lovin Sergio pounding him in the kinky gear (when I first saw it, I didn't know it was non-consensual; I thought it was just some fetish stuff as both parties looked to be having intense pleasure.). In the other, Sergio just drags the guy out to street and leaves him somewhere, the only bit of action being Sergio dry humping him (without the zipper on the latex suit open) whilst securing his bonds. I want to know if Sergio degrades into the animalistic swine he is at the conclusion of the film because he has totally fulfilled his fantasy or he's completely pitifully failed at his attempt. Maybe the point is that both would lead to the ending's savage lack of humanity and loss of identity; that's pretty common of art house, but had I wrote it, I would have definitively picked one and explored THAT subsequent theory instead. Me myself, would be better that he got the more glorified version and fell into such utter despair that he no longer needs to function as a human so reverts to a primordial state, no longer able to exist in the human context, as opposed to failing at such a thing, stooping so low and doing something so primal, causes a human to lose their humanity (this answer is just flatter and more common sense as opposed to revealing like my choice).
    ADDED NOTE NON-SPOILER
    movie is loaded with sexually explicit scenes, plenty of nudity - lots of cok and arse, with some hot sucking and unusual masturbation.

    "So Fucked Up" highlight: digging through trash for masturbatory material and then using it in combo with some auto-erotic asphyxiation
  • fb100000185301014
    February 19, 2012
    fb100000185301014
    What the F is this film all about, I understand it's an art house film, but to me it seems like a soft core porn. (Due to the excessive nudity and sex scenes minus dialogue) Sex is well explored in the film, but it could have been done better.
  • sleepykiss
    August 12, 2010
    sleepykiss
    Extremely well done, atmospheric fllm about loneliness & sexuality. Explicit s/m gay sex. I look forward to more films by JPRodrigues.
  • eskaton666
    November 28, 2008
    eskaton666
    I was initially intrigued by the description of this movie, not realizing that the description was about half as long as the script. Not enough hot gay sex to be pornographic and not enough story to be an entertainment, this is basically the story about a trash collector who fuc... read moreks anything that moves and acts like a dog. If that sounds appealing to you, go for it. I found it the cinematic equivalent of watching paint dry. I will say this, the film has some pretty good cinematography, for what that's worth.
  • logged81
    September 1, 2008
    logged81
    Garbage collector slash kinky stalking sexoholic. There it is. This story got real murky towards the end. Listening to the commentary from the director I guess we were to assume that it was a fantasy? Who knows. Ricardo Meneses was a real find for the director and I am so glad he... read more did. What a beauty he is! Wow! And what a beauty the lower member of him is. He could stalk me anytime. Thus the reason for the (3) star rating.
  • ecurb3811
    March 4, 2007
    ecurb3811
    definitely a weird movie. O Fantasma chronicles a young trash collector's descent into a world of increasingly bizarre sexual encounters. Sergio (Ricardo Meneses) spends his days living in a run-down rented room, engaging in anonymous sex and trying to rebuff the advances of his ... read moreco-worker Fatima (Beatriz Torcato). Unfulfilled by his daily sexcapades, Sergio finally gets turned on by a Tom of Finland-esque motorcyclist (Andre Barbosa), whose physical beauty becomes the source of Sergio's obsession. Sergio stalks him, eventually donning bondage gear and making the motorcyclist his love prisoner. After having his brutish way with his comely captive, Sergio vanishes into the night and prowls the city's garbage dumps in a phantasmic odyssey of sexual dysfunction and cruelty. ~ Rebecca Flint,

View All O Fantasma Reviews

Critic Reviews

Charles Ealy
October 23, 2003
Charles Ealy, Dallas Morning News

It's clear that director Rodrigues has a future as a provocateur. But you may want to decide whether to spend an evening being provoked -- and possibly perplexed. Not that there's anything wrong with ... Full Review

Michael Booth
September 26, 2003
Michael Booth, Denver Post

Often looks like explicit gay pornography thinly disguised as high art. Full Review

John Monaghan
September 11, 2003
John Monaghan, Detroit Free Press

The gay audience you'd expect the movie to pander to will likely be dismayed by its depraved view of homosexuality.

Ellen Fox
July 31, 2003
Ellen Fox, Chicago Tribune

Despite a couple of memorable scenes, it's boring when it's not kinky. Full Review

Kevin Thomas
February 13, 2003
Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times

O Fantasma is boldly, confidently orchestrated, aesthetically and sexually, and its impact is deeply and rightly disturbing. Full Review

A.O. Scott
November 25, 2002
A.O. Scott, New York Times

Imagine (if possible) a Pasolini film without passion or politics, or an Almodovar movie without beauty or humor, and you have some idea of the glum, numb experience of watching O Fantasma. Full Review

Megan Turner
November 25, 2002
Megan Turner, New York Post

Arty gay film.

Don Willmott
April 21, 2004
Don Willmott, Filmcritic.com

There's this gay garbageman who roams the city at night in a black rubber catsuit and searches out dangerous anonymous sexual encounters. Would you care to invest? Full Review

Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone
October 24, 2003
Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone, TheMovieChicks.com

The film may be provocative, but it's also maddening... In the end, the audience is left with a great big WHY? Full Review

Greg Muskewitz
July 10, 2003
Greg Muskewitz, eFilmCritic.com

Like the central figure, the structurelessness of plot and direction, lead directly into obscurity. Full Review

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