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Saturday, February 20, 2021

Review: Red Latex (Latex Rojo)

Director: Gerardo Marco

Screenplay: Gerardo Marco

Year: 2021


A few days ago, I commented in my review of “I Am Toxic” (“Soy Tóxico”) about the state of horror cinema in Argentina, especially after having surprised the world with “Terrified” (“Aterrados”). Well, the Argentine movie that concerns us today comes to us from distributor Latin Extreme, and although it is not a horror movie, it can be classified as a thriller for lack of a better classification. 


Eric lives with his pregnant wife in their in-laws’ house. Tired of his actual situation and not feeling in control of his own life, he decides to leave it all behind and go with a dominatrix. In the dominatrix’s mansion, he hopes to find freedom by turning into her slave.



Have you ever felt like life makes no sense and that nothing you do seems to improve your situation? I think we all have gone through these bad streaks in life. A more appropriate question would be: when everything seems to be going wrong in life, have you ever considered looking for freedom by becoming a dominatrix’s slave? Without delving into anyone’s sexual kinks, I don’t think there would be many that would give an affirmative answer to that question.


Well, this is the route Eric decides to follow, and instead of empathizing with him, we spend most of the movie questioning his decisions. Seeking freedom by voluntarily becoming a slave? We could argue about the philosophical meaning, but who watches a film about a dominatrix expecting to have a philosophical revelation about life’s hardships and how to overcome them? It seems to me that the director and screenwriter Gerardo Marco has a good idea but overestimates his product. 



Once Eric arrives at the house of the dominatrix Gise, the movie turns much more interesting. In this stretch, we see the dynamics inside the mansion, a completely different world that spins around pleasure and pain. We also see the effects of Eric’s decision to go to this place on his wife and family, who try to make him come to reason. The interaction between the family and the people who live in the mansion is interesting but turns repetitive. 


“Red Latex” explores a world that spins around pleasure and pain and tries to establish a philosophical idea about life, drawing parallels with submission and liberation that don’t fit well with the movie style. It can be considered a thriller for lack of a better classification, but it lacks suspense. It proposes an interesting idea in the wrong movie style.




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