Sexual Dependency

A brutal shocker that is difficult to watch.

Its power lies in the intense, subtle performances of the ensemble cast and Bellott's ability to keep the tangled narrative threads from becoming a knotted mess.

In Sexual Dependency, the filmmaker Rodrigo Bellott flirts with the allowable limit of themes in one movie. His frenzied but clever first film juggles race, class, jingoism, homophobia, sexual attraction and rape.

Has more flash than finesse.

Few movies on the subject of peer pressure offer so wide a cultural critique, even pointing a finger at underwear billboards, and Bellott's roving eye makes him a filmmaker to watch.

The director's split-screen effects and hand-held digital camerawork go from being innovative to repetitive to irritating in a Santa Cruz minute.

As theory, Sexual Dependency is no worse than a tinny artist's statement, but as moviemaking, it's brutally embarrassing, inexcusable.