The affair between a young actor and a politician comes under increasing threat as their public profiles grow and the stakes rise in erotic thriller Night Stage from writer/directors Filipe Matzembacher and Marcio Reolon.
Highly risky behaviour
Night Stage
4.0 out of 5.0 stars
CAUTION: Here be spoilers
The troupe of an experimental theatre company are excited by a visit from the casting director of a big show to be filmed locally. The womanising lead role is offered to Fabio (Henrique Barreira, feature debut) leaving flatmate Matias (Gabriel Faryas, feature debut) disappointed.
Later Matias’s hookup with a faceless torso is handsome Rafael (Cirlillo Luna, The Devil’s Scarab) who drives them to his office building. They are almost caught during sex, but it excites both of them and Rafael purposely opens the curtains.
Rafael says he does not go on second dates but there is clearly chemistry and a connection between the pair, and they start meeting regularly.
Their passionate trysts having an increasing element of risk; continuing to have sex in a car with a group nearby (and then when one of them starts to watch) and then going at it behind a car in a car park with a family nearby.
Matias is stunned to learn that Rafael is running for Mayor, his campaign coming with dedicated head of security Camilo (Ivo Muller, Proof Sheet), who will protect the campaign and sponsors at all costs.
The interpretative show, amazingly staged, includes the suspense of whether Matias or Fabio will stay on the ledge to perform the final monologue.
Matias underhandedly gets himself an audition for the lead role in the show. Knowing the casting director is in the audience, he ensures he gets the climatic monologue which clinches the TV role, leaving Fabio seething with anger and jealousy.
Fabio (in a somewhat telegraphed move) uses an incriminating video of Rafael and Matias to blackmail his way to Matias’ role in the series. He’s immediately made to feel bad when Matias reveals he is advocating to get Fabio a part in the show.
Pleasingly, for 2025, the threat to the mayoral campaign is not that Rafael is gay but, as Camilo responds to Fabio, more the illegal and irresponsible behaviour with Matias.
Tellingly, however, it is a sad reflection that it is still an issue for actors as Matias discovers when he is explicitly told that his personal life is to remain under wraps and there is a cancel clause in his contract.
In a nail-biting scene – which could fit easily into a Hitchcock thriller – Camilo shockingly eliminates the threat of blackmail by strangling Fabio.
Further threat appears in the form of a masked man at a party who follows Matias to the cruising ground. Matias assumes it is Rafael, but this is not revealed.
In the final sequence we hear Rafael’s voiceover narrate a bittersweet ending where he and Matias are parted but in reality, a final showdown at the cruising ground ends with gunfire and more alfresco fornication.
In an excellent film debut, Faryas is sexy and charismatic as Matias. He convinces as a wide-eyed 23-year-old discovering the ways and expectations of the working and acting worlds for the first time as well as exploring his sexual fantasies with gusto.
Luna is slightly blank as Rafael but believable as the mouldable politician who comes to life in the clandestine encounters with Matias. As Camilo, Muller brings perfect calculating expressions and dark energy as the sinister henchman.
The acclaimed filmmaking team of Matzembacher and Reolon channel ’90s erotic thrillers, in all the best ways, making Night Stage a tantalising and enthralling watch.
Night Stage screened as the Closing Night Gala at the 2025 BFI Flare Festival.
