Leonardo (Ghilherme Lobo) has been dealt a slightly tougher hand than most, due to being a bullied, blind teenager in a middle class Sao Paulo high school, along with his obviously loving but highly and overly strict parents. Thankfully his best friend Giovana (Tess Amorim) is always there for him, even if he is unaware of her obvious feelings for him. Then along comes Gabriel (Fabio Audi), a new guy in the classroom who stirs up the attentions of all the girls, including Giovana. However, when he and Leonardo are paired up for a project, their new friendship starts to raise questions within them both.
The story of a blind, potentially bisexual Brazilian teenage boy may sound about as art-house as it gets, but thankfully writer/director Daniel Riberio handles the subject with a delicate hand, giving each relationship within the love triangle more than enough room to breathe. The young trio all excel, especially Lobo as the adorable young lad who isn’t afraid to totally play on his disability to his own advantage.
Not everything is laid on quite so subtly, with Leonardo’s parents crossing the line repeatedly between understandably protective and right-out oppressive, plus the bullies are just blankly cruel, written in just so we have someone in the film to dislike.
Elsewhere though, Riberio nails the absolute nature of being a teenager, with each friendship bordering on infatuation, each new experience being the best thing ever, and each argument with your parents being the worst moment in your life. While not exactly shedding any new light on the Coming Out/Coming Of Age sub-genre, it still feels relatively fresh to see a movie about a person questioning their sexuality without it being a negative event, just a moment of realisation. There’s no "I don’t WANT to be gay, what will people think of me?" moment, instead merely asking "Is this what I really am?" without any kind of bad connotation.
Instead of hammering down the depressing aspects of being blind and of an alternative sexuality, The Way He Looks is a tenderly told story of young love, and one that will leave you feeling all warm and fuzzy inside.
