Will-o'-the-Wisp

Will-o’-the-Wisp has its moments, but this is another movie that thinks bringing up an issue is the same as excavating it.

There are showstopping musical numbers, plentiful eyefuls of nudity and much more. I loved every 67 minutes of it.

Few cineastes out there are making deliciously defiant art like Rodrigues, and this entry in his catalog is a concentrated shot of his sardonic mastery.

Motored by carnal action as much as by personal crises and emotional disintegration, João Pedro Rodrigues drolly explore the terrain where XXX meets existentialism...No matter how weighty the theme, though, Rodrigues is never one for sanctimony.

A prank in fancy dress, a plastic boutonniere that squirts battery acid. The joke is on everyone, particularly the powerful and those holding out hope that the powerful will save the planet.

“Will-o’-the-Wisp” lives up to the flighty, elusive promise of its title, teasing its viewers in more ways than one...

Hawks famously opined...a good movie [has] three good scenes [without] annoying the audience. In that, João Rodrigues excels. Will-o’-the-Wisp is a fiercely political indictment of capitalism hidden inside a queer romance that never outstays its welcome.

The world that Rodrigues wants to build here finds itself between the erotic and phantasmagorical, aided by skillful, albeit slightly messy, direction.

Will is really just a goof, without much cumulative or lingering impact. Still, what a goof...

An unclassifiable delight, a frothy satire of monarchy and colonialism that has a lot on its plate but never forgets to be fun. Plus it's got musical numbers.