FILM REVIEWS:
300 LETTERS (300 Cartas)(Argentina/UK/Germany 2025) ***
Directed by Lucas Sanata Ana
Who is cuter? Who is more f***d up?
Jero (Cristian Mariani) and Tom (Gastón Frías) are the young gay couple that everyone wants to be. On the day of the first anniversary of their meeting, Jero returns home to find that Tom has abandoned him, leaving him a box of 300 letters in pink envelopes in a pink box, as his only explanation. Jero is to read each letter, written by Tom, and in order, not skipping any, to find the reason Tom has left him.
300 LETTERS is described as an anti romantic comedy. The term refers to a film that subverts or rejects the usual conventions of a romantic comedy.
An anti–rom-com flips that formula by showing:
messy, realistic, or even cynical relations
flawed characters who may not end up together,
darker or bittersweet tones instead of cheerful ones,
and a critique of romantic clichés or societal expectations about love.
Example of anti-romcoms are MARRIAGE STORY, THE LOBSTER AND (500) DAYS OF SUMMER. Yes, these are really good films that hit the subject on target.
Gay romcoms are typically more daring than straight ones. Jero an Tom meet and they both cum from French kissing and jerking each other off in Jero’s courtyard. Then they enter the house to continue sex, where Tom rides Jero while kissing. These two scenes are not erotic enough, unless one is a straight person.
As the first letter, #001 is read by Jero, dressed to him as, “Dear Jero”, Jero as well as the audience begins to learn about their relationship, one letter at a time, from Tom’s point of view. The first letter records their first encounter and meeting, full of sex. But as Tom says in the letter, the sex would lie on the list of his best sexual encounters but it is all sex, and nothing else. The first letter takes 15 minutes of screen time while the following letters takes much less time, of course, or this film will never end. The audience and Jero learn a different Tom than the one Jero knows. The thing that can be learnt about the relationship, is that there is too much sex and not much else. At the film’s half way mark, it is at letter number 41.
For a comedy, many lessons can be learned here about relationships, whether gay or straight, For one, great sex isn’t enough for a relationship to hold, though it helps immensely. More important is respect. The fact that Tom writes of Jero’s and his prose al emotions without Jero’s permission naturally pisses Jero off, as would most people in the same boat. In Jero and Tom’s relationship, each re not willing to sacrifice and do more for the other than more himself.
300 Letters world premiered at the 2025 Roze Filmdagen Film Festival, held its US Premiere at Wicked Queer: Boston's LGBTQ+ Film Festival, and went on to hold a healthy festival life with screenings at Frameline San Francisco, Cinema Diverse: The Palm Springs LGBTQ+ Film Festival, and FilmOut San Diego. The film is set to screen at Outshine LGBTQ+ Film Festival, Out Here Daytona Film Fest, and Way Out West Film Fest this Fall.
300 LETTERS opens on VOD, digital from Cinephobia Releasing on November 11.
Trailer:
NUREMBERG (USA 2025) ****
Directed by James Vanderbilt
Review to be posted week of opening.
Trailer:
