Moustroll Good movie but grossly overrated

BelSports This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Matho The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

Gary The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Falconeer I've seen so few good 'gay-themed' films. "La partida" aka "The Last Match" is one of the great ones. From the director of another excellent film, "Clandestinos," we have a rare instance where gay characters aren't portrayed as ridiculous, clown-like stereotypes. The leads don't wear eyeliner, and they aren't go-go boys who hang out in bars, and they don't have drug problems. Instead we have two leads who are just regular people, who discover that they have a mutual attraction for each other. Living in Cuba, with a wife that supports him financially, Reinier is an avid futbol player, who is hoping to go pro, as a way of escaping a country where freedom does not exist. He also wants to escape the poverty that envelops him and his family and mates. So desperate for a way out, his own mother pushes him towards male prostitution, hoping that her young son will marry a foreigner, and thus give them all a way out of Cuba. Likewise Yosvani is in an unhappy relationship with a female, also supporting him. The two guys figure out that they like each other more than they should, and soon it turns into love. From that point everything and everyone seems set on destroying what the two have found with each other.This is a sad story. It is romantic in a way that so few movies of this genre are. The two lead actors are great, especially Milton Garcia as Yosvani. He loves his friend in this intense way that we all wish we could be loved. His eyes are so sad, as though he knows from the start, that the love story will never have a happy ending. But he doesn't give up. This guy was brilliant.Director Antonio Hens has a way of showing his audience a different kind of gay world, one that is free of dumb stereotypes. In "Clandestinos" we have a gay terrorist. And here we have a guy who plays football, and a street thug, who just happen to be attracted to the same sex. Films like this are so important, in that they teach the uninformed that gays are not "freaks," but in many cases completely typical men and women that just happen to be drawn to the same sex. As long as they are portrayed as silly stereotypes, the hatred and prejudice will be perpetuated. We need more cinema like this. It's a great love story, well-made and beautifully written. I recommend this movie as well as "Clandestinos," for people looking for something different.

fabiog-26-358885 Being a teenager or young is difficult in all modern societies. And being gay adds some extra speculations and fears. I am gay and I am from Argentina, and in the mid nineties (when I was 25) I was fortunate to travel alone to Cuba on vacations. There, I met a Cuban young man of the same age as me, "by chance" in the streets of La Havana, and I had a little romance with him during my staying in this beautiful and romantic country. Due to this, I could live some of the situations portrayed in the film and I can say in that sense it is rather accurate. In Cuba there is not classical "poverty". They lack of desirable capitalist goods (like electronics or branded shoes, etc) but they are not hungry or without health care, education, etc. And the means to obtain these goods is through the tourists from Europe and Latin America. Well, the weather is hot all the year long, the same as the people doing things outside their houses until very late in the night. And Cubans are very romantic people in general. Well, my "Cuban boyfriend" lived with his family there. And he was openly gay. He (as the one in the film) presented me to his parents and brothers, the second day after we met. Well, the economic situation of the country (little communist island commercially blocked by its neighbor the superpower with the supportive superpower recently disappeared) took us to an uneven relationship (I had the dollars to spend), though not so much because my origin, age, job, etc.. But thanks to him, many things we did were done using "services and fares for Cubans" (not the ones for tourists). My country and specially my city is rather open to gay people, since those years. and I perceived a similar "air" in La Havanna. OK, There was not "gay dance clubs", but we went to dance to ordinary places and we danced together only taking care of not to kiss each other in public but we did it in familiar places. Well, this is my context to evaluate the film from there I feel it was well exposed by the script and director. In this case, both characters are young men, supposedly heterosexual, living and being maintained by their respective girlfriends' family, who fell in love of each other. The end of the film could be in the way it is or being more or less tragic. For me, the value of this movie is to have transporting me back to the Cuba I have known.

derrickluciano A tragic love story between two soccer mates Reinier and Yosvani amidst the neighborhood slums of Havana and prostitution. What makes me love the movie is that you get to root for these seemingly real characters until the very end. We see Reinier's hand-to-mouth existence to survive for his wife and child. We see Yosvani's dependency on his girlfriend and her shark father. We see the male prostitution in the streets and how Reinier's family approves of this work to live. And then we see how the love blossom between two macho individuals living in poverty and ask themselves in the process where would this lead to. Although both are dreamy characters, Reinier is more practical in views on love and money.It is not a feel-good film but will certainly have an impact on you after watching the film.Natural acting from the main leads who are both good-looking. Fast-paced and never boring. Good slum photography.A film worth watching.

soncoman It seems like every other day or so there are news reports of the latest state to honor marriage equality, either through the legislative process or through a court rejection of discrimination. The tide has turned quickly in this country on the issue of gay civil rights, and it's obvious to all but the most closed of minds that's in no longer a question of "if" but "how soon" before the gay community is seen as just another fully acknowledged component of our magnificent multicultural society.In other countries - not so much. Putin's anti-gay crusade in Russia and his counterpart in Uganda demonstrate that simply being gay is still a dangerous proposition in many parts of our world. This global struggle, reduced to the microcosm of two young men in Cuba, is at the heart of "The Last Match" (La Partida), director Antonio Hens' latest examination of the lives of gay youth.Reinier (Reinier Diaz) and Yosvani (Milton Garcia) are two young men surviving in the barrios of Havana. Reinier, who is married and has a child, supports his family (with the explicit approval of his mother-in-law) by prostituting himself to wealthy male tourists. Yosvani, engaged to the daughter of a black marketer, is living off the largesse of his soon-to-be father-in-law (Luis Alberto Garcia). The two come together on the local soccer field and become fast friends. After a night of partying at a local disco, they find themselves sharing a quick kiss. This initial physical interaction leads into a physical relationship that quickly grows into a deep, emotional bond.But life in Cuba is not easy, and being gay in Cuba isn't going to make it any easier. Reinier is more grounded in reality, as harsh as that reality may be. One escape for him may be to go back to Europe with a wealthy tourist (His mother-in-law's preferred action. She wants him to go back to Spain and marry the guy – because it's legal there - then send for her and his family.) Another escape may be via joining a national soccer team.Yosvani wants nothing more than to be with Reinier. He sees money as the solution to their problem. With enough money, they can just leave and go anywhere they want and be together. Rainier's simple, pitiful response – "Where?""Where?" indeed. Both young men act on their desire to escape, culminating in a quietly devastating conclusion that is sure to annoy some. Director Hens may be accused of adding another entry to the long line of "gay lovers are doomed" canon, but an honest examination of the story and the circumstances portrayed should lead one to see that it really couldn't end any other way.As the leads, Diaz and Garcia give affecting performances. While the film has its sexually explicit moments (and there is obviously a level of commitment and comfort required to pull those scenes off) it's in the quieter moments that these young actors really impress. One gets a real sense of the longing and passion these two characters share for each other, and one's heart breaks (as Yosvani's does) as the passion gives way to practicality.With genuine, heartfelt performances by the two leads (and good supporting work from Luis Alberto Garcia as the menacing profiteer), "The Last Match" is a well written and sensitively directed look at love from a different cultural perspective - the love that, sadly, still 'dare not speak its name' in too many languages and in too many places in this modern world.www.worstshowontheweb.com