Berlin Film Review: ‘Hard Paint’

Alienation is the main theme of “Hard Paint,” a brooding tale of isolation in the internet age set in Brazil’s southern city of Porto Alegre.

Designed to be as much a mood piece as a dramatic narrative, the film focuses on a socially repressed young man who only comes out of his shell during chatroom performances, when he strips and smears neon paint on his lithe body.

Co-directors Filipe Matzembacher and Marco Reolon (“Seashore”) play with moments of eroticism but this isn’t a flesh-and-fantasy frolic; rather, it’s a melancholic look at how the consequences of bullying, the burden of being different, and the artificial construct of internet chats break down social bonds.

Winning Berlin’s Teddy Award guarantees a certain amount of play on the pink circuit, though the film’s length will be a justifiable cause for complaint.When first seen, Pedro (Shico Menegat) is a timid, emotionally shut down

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