THE WAY HE LOOKS (HOJE EU QUERO VOLTAR SOZINHO)

Directed by Daniel Ribeiro. Starring Ghilherme Lobo, Fabio Audi, Tess Amorim, Lucia Romano, Eucir de Souza, Selma Egrei. Club, IFI Dublin, 95 min

When we first encounter Leonardo (Lobo) and his BF Giovana (Amorim), they’re lying by a swimming pool comparing notes on laziness. We don’t immediately realise that Leonardo, the young hero of this award-winning drama, is blind, a condition that attracts casual, intolerant jibes from schoolyard bullies.

Enter new classmate Gabriel (Audi), who quickly bonds with Giovana and with Leonardo, in particular. Slowly, the dynamic between the three shifts and adjusts. As we watch Leonardo teach Gabriel how to use Braille and Gabriel teach Leonardo how to dance, it becomes apparent that Leonardo is gay. As that relationship heats up, Leonardo and Giovana’s friendship cools.

Far more swiftly, we realise that Leonardo is desperate for a degree of independence away from his well-meaning but overprotective parents. Will he ever persuade them to let him go on a US exchange programme?

The debut feature from Brazilian writer-director Daniel Ribeiro premiered at Berlin and took home the Teddy for Best LGBT Picture earlier this year. One couldn't describe it as a radical or groundbreaking coming-of-age movie. Some of the musical cues, notably Arvo Pärt's Spiegel im Spiegel and Marvin Gaye's Let's Get It On, are used in screamingly obvious ways. Other tunes are aimed at a much older demographic than most of the characters found here. The dialogue can feel awfully familiar and equally inauthentic.

Still, working against the film’s more generic moments, the three young leads ensure we feel every symptom of their unrequited affections. Pierre de Kerchove’s cinematography adds warmth to the teenage chemistry. TARA BRADY