What makes it different from others?

There is just so much movie here. For some it may be too much. But in the same secretly sarcastic way most telemarketers say the phrase, the title of this one is particularly apt.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

We are treated to four different yet interwoven stories; the common denominator being that they deal with being gay and gay relationships.In one story we meet an elderly closeted gay poet, Joaquín (Alonso Echánove); he is married, with a seemingly happy wife and daughters. He is smitten by a young male prostitute, Gilberto (Alejandro Belmonte) he meets in a bath-house. In a second story we get an example of a long-term (ten year) gay relationship that is starting to fall apart. Unfaithful Hugo (Antonio Velásquez) is involved in an affair with another man. His sensitive partner, Andrés (Alejandro de la Madrid) is trying his best to save their relationship. The relationship between two young gay men is put under pressure in a third story; Leo (Gustavo Egelhaaf) is closeted and scared to reveal his sexual orientation, whilst Fito (César Ramos) does not want to remain in the closet any longer. This leads to tension. In the fourth story a clearly gay boy, Mauricio (Gabriel Santoyo) develops a crush on his older cousin, Oliver (Sebastián Rivera). Mauricio desperately wants to get closer to Oliver, but it is a risky move; what if Oliver is straight and homophobic? The director, Sergio Tovar Velarde, effectively highlights some of the issues faced by gays: Social pressure resulting in fear and closeted lifestyles, a swinging lifestyle and promiscuity, and how hard it is to make a long-term relationship work. Furthermore, it shows us how a homophobic and intolerant society, fueled by the church, can result in bullying and assault. I found the acting splendid, and so too the cinematography and soundtrack, and score 'Cuatro Lunas' an excellent 8/10.

Gay cinema has reached an epitome, by walking hand in hand with director Sergio Tovar Velarde. Four Moons ( Cuatro Luna's ) is one the most beautiful yet perfect LGBTQ feature films I have seen in years. In comparison with films like The Normal Heart or Pride it doesn't bother to tell a story of struggle for rights. Its a nice blend of relationships and the time-line of sexuality. The movie has four different layers. Each and every layers poses a different timescale of life. In one those layers the director successfully portrait the fear and curiosity of a kid who has instinct for a same sex. The second luna tells when young individuals have dilemma between his own skin, his love and family responsibility. Its eventually the most relevant in our society and time. The pride and respect can precisely enter in this situation to make a dignified decision. The third layer is address the loyalty issue of gay relationship/ marriage. It also push gay men into an another degree to ask themselves that "what is the glue for a successful relation ?" Is this sex ?? or love can handle it perfectly. Director ends the third node in a situation where society can learn why the stigma should banished and so the judgmental mentality. The most captivating chapter of the movie deals with the gay men and aging. Aging is natural law, so the sexuality. But the stigma within the homosexual community about age is prominent. How a same sex also could be a inspiration for the poetic creation is cleverly captured in this celluloid.Gay poets like Oscar Wilde to Emily Dickinson has known about their keen towards creation, but may be the first time it has been filmed the inspiration behind those. In conclusion its a journey in a time machine in a homosexual stigmatized world in search of love. Its clearly convey its message as well as teach us about the priority and balance. I preach this movie to watch if you are homosexual. I believe you won't regret.

Each of the four story plots were common themes fairly realistically presented. A very young boy gets "outted" to fellow students, school authorities and parents after he gets touchy-feely with a male cousin. A couple, one of whom is out and public about being gay, while the other is closeted and fearful of public exposure, deal with the conflicts their differences create between them. An elderly married man becomes fascinated with a straight hustler who is looking to raise money for a trip north to join his family. A long- term couple, one of whom has become disenchanted with their relationship, deal with a possible break up.The story about the young boy and his parents is pretty straight forward, but lacks any depth or any originality. The resolution really only involves the father coming to terms with his son's apparent nature, and that resolution is particularly shallow and trite.The story about the older man who (suddenly?) feels attracted to, actually obsessed about, another man he encounters in a steam room also seems a little hard to fathom as presented. One gets the impression that this is his first venture outside his marriage and his fidelity to wife and family. I suppose that's possible. The idea of someone coming out or acting upon a suppressed desire fairly late in life is a popular one in movies and television. But in this case, the one encounter appears to be a sufficient expression of that desire, followed by a return to the "traditional" wife and family as if the one experience satisfied the urge for all time. And exactly why the older man felt the need for the hustler to anonymously attend his award ceremony is a little baffling. Not saying it couldn't happen, but I never felt the rationale for it was established (the recording I watched had somewhat erratic audio and subtitles, so maybe I just missed it).The other two stories seemed more complete and realistic to me, although their resolutions were a little too happily-ever-after and neatly packaged.It is definitely worth watching, but possibly there was an attempt to achieve too much in too short a time. Maybe two or three moons would have allowed for a little more depth rather than all four moons at one go.

The Mexican film Cuatro Lunas was shown in the U.S. with the title Four Moons (2014). It was directed by Sergio Tovar Velarde. (I'm not sure if the title refers to the fact that the movie depicts four separate stories, or takes place over four months, or both.)Sometimes, a director will interweave the stories so that characters of one story interact with characters of the other stories. Not so here. Each story is independent, but the theme of all four stories is the same--difficulties face by gay men. The stories have an age separation: one is about a pre-adolescent, one about a college-age couple, one about a couple in midlife, and one about an elderly professor who is married, with grown children, but who still seeks love from a gay hustler.I found all four stories to be realistic and very moving. I was especially impressed by the story of Joaquin, the professor, played by Alonso Echinove. He has been awarded a literary prize by a small college. It's obviously a pretty minor event, but it's the only award he's likely to receive. He pays the young hustler to attend, and the young man keeps his promise to be there.We saw this film at The Little Theatre as part of ImageOut, the always impressive Rochester LGBT Film Festival. It will work well on DVD.