Fallen Fruit (2024)

“Alex” (Ramiro Batista) is a twenty-three year old man who has returned to his parental home in Miami after the break up of his only relationship so far, with “Adam”. He only sees this as a temporary arrangement before he returns to New York, but before long it is not just the impending hurricane that is causing turbulence in his life. At work, he encounters the charismatic “Chris” (Austin Cassel) who goes some way to restoring his faith in men and shows him a little of what this metropolis has to offer and to threaten him with. He’s enthusiastic but naive, and is ill-prepared for the fairly benign but still quite potent harshness of the life he carefully documents with his father’s old camcorder. Sadly, that’s about the height of it! It’s an observation of his life, but it doesn’t really go anywhere beyond telling us what we would already know - that life isn’t the proverbial box of chocolates. It has moments that raise a smile, and his open-hearted attitude to life and love is quite touching, but there is precious little development of his character, nor that of “Chris” and it still recourses to a few easy stereotypes of gay pick-up culture and attitudes to the occupational hazards that are STIs. It’s an easy watch, but having opened a few interesting doors it makes little attempt to step through them and by the time the winds did come, I too was ready to sleep in the bath. It’s fine, but all too forgettable fayre.