- 2023
- Strand Releasing
- 1 h 7 m
SummaryOn his deathbed, his royal highness Alfredo, king without a crown, is taken back to distant youth memories and the time he dreamt of becoming a fireman. The encounter with instructor Afonso from the fire brigade opens a new chapter in the life of the two young men immersed in love and desire, and the will to change the status quo.
Directed By:João Pedro Rodrigues
Written By:João Pedro Rodrigues, João Rui Guerra da Mata, Paulo Lopes Graça
Will-o'-the-Wisp
Metascore
Generally Favorable
72
User score
Generally Unfavorable
2.0
My Score
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Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
72
86% Positive
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
0% Mixed
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
14% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Jun 7, 2023
90
Like the fiery folklore entity that lends it its name, Will-o’-the-Wisp burns bright with idiosyncratic ambition. 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.
Jun 7, 2023
80
Served up with lashings of homoeroticism, Bunuelian satire, a gay love story and an athletic dance number, its uncompromising nature will delight fans of the visionary filmmaker.
Jun 7, 2023
80
Rampantly horny and unapologetically silly, Will-o’-the-Wisp appeals to more primal desires and thought processes in its audience, even as it repurposes a Greta Thunberg speech or references the racially charged work of 18th-century Portuguese painter José Conrado Roza.
Jun 7, 2023
80
While the cast’s dancing is very good, on the whole, the acting suggests less training. But that fits the semi-professional vibe even better, creating a work that feels light, quick and quite dirty in every sense.
May 25, 2023
70
Will-o’-the-Wisp, an off-balance provocation from the Portuguese titillater João Pedro Rodrigues, is 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.
May 4, 2023
67
It’s hard not to wish the film were a little longer and could push its musical element harder. It doesn’t quite erupt into a rapturous extravaganza—seemingly by design, as a twinge of defeat emerges when the film makes a hard ellipsis back to the future in its final minutes. But in this mad dash of relevancy, maybe a bit of half baked-ness just comes with the territory
Jun 29, 2023
25
Will-o’-the-Wisp, a flight of fancy from Portuguese provocateur João Pedro Rodrigues, has a few ideas, a fun little musical sequence and quite a bit of eye candy. But it seems like a series of tonally different short films mashed together — an art installation rather than a movie.
User score
Generally Unfavorable
2.0
25% Positive
1 Rating
1 Rating
0% Mixed
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
75% Negative
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
Sep 2, 2023
7
Ainda que não seja propriamente um filme comum, está mais para um quadro performático onde um jovem príncipe aspira a ser da corporação dos bombeiros, resgatando uma espécie de fetiche dos instintos mais naturais do imaginário LGBTQUIA+.
Sem contar com um roteiro linear, mas dando vazão à luxúria e traços mais teatralizados, o filme vai se desencadeando como um sonho, puro tesão e imaginação. Há, então, de tudo um pouco, sem poupar os expectadores que estão em busca de tal conteúdo, como nudez explícita e coito. Pode parecer um tanto apelativo para alguns, mas a beleza com que é filmado e a plasticidade dos atores, faz tudo não soar vulgar.
A duração diminuta também ajuda na experiência, que mais parece a trasnposição de um desejo oculto posta nas telas, com várias cenas onde um amontoado de machos do corpo de bombeiros aparecem. Pode soar um roteiro de xvideos, mas de fato há aqui um cuidado do roteiro em criar um clima poético, com uma trilha gostos e atuações que também sugerem mais do que explicitam. Vale a conferida, mas com a ressalva de que é um conteúdo particularmente direcionado a determinados públicos.
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Mar 15, 2024
1
Everything I read about this film is such an absurd lie that I have to wonder who has been writing it. The film is extremely unfunny, painfully uneven, and every attempt at a joke is told twice. It comes across as an unedited rough cut of a short film by a first-time director. The acting is atrocious, except for Andre Cabral, who is very charismatic and has the most interesting character. The musical numbers **** big time, especially the one with the children (what was the point of that, by the way?). Three ideas could be potentially charming, but get lost in the rusty execution: the living paintings, the exchange of racial slurs and the forest of ****. But it's all so clumsy and pathetic that I cringed for the entire unbelievably long 67 minutes. Oh well.
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Production Company:
- Terratreme Filmes
- House on Fire
- Filmes Fantasma
- ARTE
- Instituto Camões
- Instituto do Cinema e do Audiovisual (ICA)
- Luso!
Release Date:May 26, 2023
Duration:1 h 7 m
Awards
CinEuphoria Awards
• 3 Nominations
Seville European Film Festival
• 1 Win & 2 Nominations
LesGaiCineMad, Madrid International LGBT Film Festival
• 1 Win & 2 Nominations
































