2024 Entry #014 01-11-24 “The Trace of Your Lips” (aka “La huella de unos labios”) is a 2023 Mexican drama directed by gay cinema icon Julián Hernández, who co-wrote the film with Gustavo Hernández de Anda. The film centers on Aldo (Mauricio Rico) & Román (Hugo Catalán), gay men who live in the same apartment complex who have never been formally introduced. Aldo works in a store with some tricking on the side while Román is an actor in B-movies. The story takes a turn as the men are isolated in their apartments due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the lockdowns that ensued. They trade messages and phone calls, becoming emotionally entangled as well as increasingly sexually explicit in conversation and fantasy.
Watching this film today proved to be extremely ironic. Firstly, I started this LGBTQ+ viewing and reaction project in 2020, in part to keep myself sane during the Covid-19 NYC lockdown. Additionally, I’ve now been alerted by Facebook that three years ago today I watched and reviewed “Mexican Men”, a collection of short films which first exposed me to Julián Hernández’s work. I’ve always intended to view more and I have tried, but my copy of one film (“A Thousand Clouds of Peace”) was damaged and I started another which I never finished (because I couldn’t get back to it in a timely manner).
As for this film, it is far more tragic than I was expecting, but it was also visually stunning, with a great soundtrack and a subject matter I could clearly relate to. The film’s opening, during the making of one of Román’s B-movies, where he first crosses paths with Aldo, goes on a bit too long; it was clear what the gimmick was but it took a long time to get to the “reveal”. Beyond that, the film played like an AIDS film, but with Covid-19 instead. I don’t highly recommend it, but I wasn’t bored and I don’t regret watching it. And I still want to see more of this director’s work.