An aspiring dancer is devastated by survivor’s guilt after a
shooting in a gay bar, in a topical film that takes on too many big issues
Here’s yet another film that falls disappointingly flat when the film-makers are more preoccupied with delivering topical messages than outlining nuanced characters. Why Not You tries hard to comment on a mosaic of issues – homophobia, addiction, PTSD, religious extremism – yet ends up hollow and emotionally vapid.
The debut feature from Evi Romen, a seasoned film editor, the film’s visual flair sometimes makes up for the jumbled plot, which follows Mario (Thomas Prenn), an aspiring queer dancer at odds with his conservative community in the primarily German-speaking South Tyrol,
Italy. With a penchant for wigs and nail polish, he dreams of bigger cities and the personal freedom they promise. Tragedy strikes on a trip to a gay bar in Rome with Lenz (Noah Saavedra), a close friend with whom Mario shares an intense sexual tension. Islamic extremists open
fire on the patrons; Lenz dies while Mario survives. Grief, coupled with intense guilt, sends Mario spiralling further into a cycle of addiction until he crosses path with a local Muslim community willing to rehabilitate the self-destructive man.