It takes a dark path to get there, but queer resilience does finally emerge in the incisive British tragicomedy “Departures,” opening seemingly at its most broken point: a messy breakup. From there, we’re dropped into the alcohol-fueled, sexually compulsive rebound spiral of Benji (Lloyd Eyre-Morgan), one where memory and present blur uncomfortably. He recalls his mother’s warning about AIDS, which resurfaces alongside a formative moment of violence — a schoolmate’s hand at his throat after intimacy tips into threat.
Flashing back 18 months, Benji meets Jake (David Tag), an emotionally withholding muscle daddy, in an airport on the way to Amsterdam. Jake commits to little besides dominance in bed and paying for their travel. Here, B.D.S.M. links more directly to psychological imprint, unlike the film “Pillion” from earlier this year, in which queer sexual submission becomes self-discovery. After Benji is drugged and assaulted by a hookup post-breakup, the film asks where, for him, the trauma ends and the pleasure begins.
A voice to watch, Eyre-Morgan wrote “Departures” and directed it with Neil Ely. The film balances a mordantly funny deconstruction of romance with the harsher realities of gay life: internalized homophobia, body dysmorphia, alcoholism, sexual abuse, parental expectations to be a “happy gay.” It’s a lot, maybe too much for some. Even the camerawork feels confrontational, with tight close-ups and high angles that subjugate Benji. “Departures” is still tender and winsome, with graphic-novel-style animation lightening the load, but is ultimately punishing in tone. It lives by a truth that might ring familiar for gay men particularly: Humor that cuts deep is a form of survival.
Departures Not rated. Running time: 1 hour 22 minutes. In theaters.
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