The Last First Time review – queer coming-of-age drama gives itself up to pleasure

This queer coming-of-age drama from Mexico feels a little familiar, with its story of 18-year-old Eduardo, a small-town boy finding himself in the big city. And yet nothing about it feels forced or fake – it is upfront about pleasure and desire, Eduardo’s teenage horniness and his intense need to be in the gay world. There are terrific performances from its young cast too.

Alejandro Quintana plays Eduardo, a studious kid who arrives in Mexico’s second largest city, Guadalajara, in a sensible button-up shirt to sit a university entrance exam. His phone pings constantly with messages and calls from his mum, whose harsh tone suggests a tension, possibly around his sexuality. After the exam Eduardo meets student Mario, a Caravaggio-esque beauty who invites him back to his house. But when they arrive – surprise! – Mario’s family have thrown him a birthday party. Which only briefly interrupts the hookup, since Mario is totally accepted at home.

In fact, one of the joys of the film is that it never threatens to get dark – a dodgy older guy in a club with predatory vibes aside. All the memories Eduardo makes are happy ones. He knows it too, staring intently at everyone and everything as if to freeze time, storing the details as he heads off for the night with Mario and his mates. Clearly, it is Eduardo’s first time out of his parents’ sight, and he hits it hard. There’s sex, tequila, a gay club, poppers, half a tattoo. Eduardo vomits over his shirt, pees on his phone. The next morning, on the bus home, he is a changed man.

This is a slight wisp of a film, and some audiences may feel they’ve seen this sort of thing too many times before, but coming out stories are like snowflakes or fingerprints: no two are the same.