Sebastián Silva’s “Rotting in the Sun” poked and prodded the 2023 Sundance Film Festival with its graphic, unsimulated gay sex scenes and full-frontal male nudity. But this dark existential meta-comedy about a filmmaker in freefall (also played by Silva) is deeper than all that chatter — as riotously funny and enjoyable as it may also be for those very same reasons. This sharp, self-flagellating satire of gay millennial life, co-starring social media star Jordan Firstman, finally opens from MUBI in theaters on September 8 before streaming on the platform September 15. Watch the trailer, an IndieWire exclusive, below.
“Rotting in the Sun” combines a timely skewering of gay narcissism with the filthy filmmaking spirit of John Waters and even a quasi-detective story. While dooming and glooming at a Mexican gay beach town that sure looks like Oaxaca’s nude vacation mecca Zipolite, depressed director Sebastián Silva (the filmmaker plays himself) is rescued from a near-suicide attempt by the outgoing Instagram influencer Jordan Firstman (again, playing himself). Adrift in a busted TV project and creatively bereft, Sebastián agrees to collaborate on an upcoming project with his new admirer. But back in Mexico City, Sebastián is M.I.A. for their appointed meeting time, sending Jordan on a wild journey to find him.
Meanwhile, Silva’s housekeeper (“The Maid” star Catalina Saavedra) may have something to do with his disappearance — though “Rotting” has plenty more Ketamine-addled tricks down its pants.
The Chilean filmmaker based “Rotting in the Sun” on his own experience vacating Brooklyn for Mexico City, where he lived in an architectural studio hoping to restart his career as a painter. “I just wanted to paint and chill,” Silva told IndieWire in an interview out of Sundance. “But I can’t escape the movies. Wherever I go, I see things that are cinematic.”
“Rotting in the Sun,” produced by Jacob Wasserman, Hidden Content, and The Lift, in association with Robert Pattinson’s production company Icki Eneo Arlo, Spacemaker Productions and Caffeine Post, marked Silva’s fifth time back at Sundance, where he’s previously won the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize and Directing Award.
Watch the trailer below — and check out the film‘s macabrely hilarious poster, too.
