Cachorro

[vaneramos]

The now-famous chocolate icing for bitterlawngnome and rfmcdpei's birthday cake last night, made by djjo with some help from yours truly. 12 oz of chocolate, a pound of butter, a dash of vanilla, a few dashes of Cointreau and some icing sugar.

~~~~~~~~~~

I had been looking forward to seeing the Spanish film Cachorro (2004), or Bear Cub, but was unprepared for its effect on me. I knew it was about a gay man in Madrid in the bear subculture, whose nine-year-old nephew arrives for a visit. I was interested to see an acclaimed movie, winner of several Spanish awards, about the kind of men I hang out with.

In fact, the bear scene is a relatively minor factor in the movie's plot. It could have been about any gay man. The fact that it was about a heavyset guy with facial hair only brought it marginally closer to home. I suppose I expected the relationship with his nephew to be whimsical and idealized. Hollywood has taught me to expect that from movies.

Instead the emotionally wrenching story struck painfully close to some of the most sensitive and important themes of my life. It might as well have been about me. To watch it last night with a room full of childless gay men was a surreal experience.

As the closing credits began, someone said: "Strange." It was strange; and so is my life as a bear-identified gay man with children who sometimes live at a distance and sometimes live with me fulltime for weeks straight. I would love to have watched it with the three gay dads on my friends list who would each relate to the film's tensions in different ways. But then we probably would have been a mess together at the end. Perhaps it was best that I got to curl up later with my boyfriend who didn't receive it so personally, but knows me well enough to understand my reaction.

Take a carefree guy who lives alone with a life of ambiguous sexual relations and fun-loving friends, bring along his sister's intelligent and perceptive son for a two-week stay that turns unexpectedly into a much more serious and demanding arrangement, throw in a lonely, scheming grandmother who uses blackmail to interfere in the bond between uncle and boy, and you have a rough outline of this film. By altering its details slightly you could also approximate the moral dilemmas, crises and heartaches that have marked my life.

The movie tried to throw in a twist ending. Such twists usually fool me, but ironically I intuited how this one must resolve.

I also declare kudos for niether portraying Pedro as a dimwitted, selfish, addled adult nor for idealizing his relationships and way of life. It might have been tempting to place him in a stable same-sex relationship to juxtapose against the malice of his detractor. Instead he is single by choice, even lonely, yet not without love. The arrival of his nephew restricts his carefree activities, and yet Pedro embraces the responsibility. His lifestyle becomes complicated by duality, not duplicity. All of this reminds me of me.

It was a hard film to watch, and yet I must place it in my list of favourites. No other has hit so close to home.

Comments

[ubermunkey.livejournal.com]

great image, bring on the cake,
and that movie does sound intense. I don't do movies well with these kinds of themes. You put it very well in regards to hitting close to home.

Do you remember that godawful movie with Madonna and Rupert?! He was the father but as soon as she had a hetero love interest he became discarded. Or something like that? Well my first lover got it to watch with another friend. I was such a mess I got up and left. They could not understand what was wrong with me? I was in the middle of custody issues myself and the movie had an incredible impact on me.

I can only imagine this one, and I won't go see it. Not any time in the near future that is.

Be well Van

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Maybe later you will be able to. If I had seen this in 1999 I might have slashed my wrists. No, not really, but I couldn't have handled seeing what they went through. Now I feel somewhat validated by it. It has messages I believe:

Love is patient. Love wins.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

P.S. I didn't see the Madonna film. That outcome sucks.

[wonderboynj.livejournal.com]

Okay, pictures like that are going to make me break my diet :)

[queenmomcat.livejournal.com]

The bears are yours; I just want the icing...I think I'll have to make Stephe make this for me. We'll skip the cake.

(For much of this entry, I can only offer slightly perplexed but very sympathetic sympathy.)

[ciddyguy.livejournal.com]

Mmmm... That icing looks deadly sinful, I'd eat it in a heart beat - all by it'self most likely. ;-)

I think I've heard of this movie but have not seen it.

Another movie with checking out is Bad Education, Spanish with English subtittles. Gay themed, but in character only for the most part and what they do to perpetuate an attempted blackmail to a catholic priest who split two 10 Y.O. gay boys at a catholic school - and the priest is gay too. Quite good I might add.

[dakoopst.livejournal.com]

It sounds like you had a similar reaction to Cachorro as I did. It is, indeed, a wonderful film, even though it hit me close to home in a totally different way.

Such is the beauty of great cinema, or any of the creative arts, I guess -- an appeal that stretches across our experiences.

Re: I'm curious...

[danthered.livejournal.com]

Nope, I picked up the European-release DVD off Ebay for $14, a Philips DVP-642 DVD player for $75, hooked up the player, typed 7 8 9 [ok] 0 on the remote (voila, player now multi-region) and we watched this region-2 PAL disc with perfect picture quality while sitting in region 1 in front of an NTSC set.

I have to imagine the North American releases, especially the American one, will be chopped and hacked to bits.

Re: I'm curious...

[danthered.livejournal.com]

Yep, we saw the unedited version.

Link to the cake recipe

[djjo.livejournal.com]

I found the recipe on the internet. It was one of the less difficult ones to make. Plus I looked wonderfully decadent!

Ultimate Chocolate Cake from Food TV dot CA.

I only changed a couple things.

For the cake, I added
1/2 oz couverture chocolate
1/2 tsp rum extract

For the icing, I added
1/4 oz 85% dark chocolate from a bar
1 tsp Cointreau
1 cup more icing sugar

The icing didn't look right with the amount of sugar the recipe called for. It was too runny. I think the chocolate mix was too warm as well. Anyway, after mixing it together, it did look quite yummy. Tasted DANG good as well!

We served the final cake with some raspberries, which set it off wonderfully.

Hugs everyone!

Oh that cake!

[djjo.livejournal.com]

That was so much fun to make. And believe it or not people, it was less rich than other chocolate cakes I have made!

Cachorro was a powerfull movie. I'm very glad I saw it. I'm glad they made the characters 'human'. Each had their problems and strong points, but no one was completely evil or good.

Glad I was there to hold you and talk about it afterwards. I can see how you could have lost it from this movie.

Big hugs and I hope there are pics of the cake! I didn't take any, so I can't post any!

Re: Link to the cake recipe

[queenmomcat.livejournal.com]

....you looked decadent or it looked decadent? Anyway, the recipe looks a keeper!

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Hmm, I'll give some thought to a low-cal vaneramos, but I'm not promising anything. ;-)

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Haha, thanks, and enjoy the icing, wherever you choose to drizzle it.

wonderfully decadent

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

He raises my blood sugar.

Re: Link to the cake recipe

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Thanks for posting that recipe. I will keep it on file for future use. I think Marian might like it for a birthday cake sometime.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

If you're interested in the recipe, djjo has posted it in another thread here.

Re: I'm curious...

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

I noticed your review when I looked up the link on IMDb. At first I didn't understand what you meant about not producing it in America, but now I do. Hollywood would macerate it, and that would be a shame.

Re: I'm curious...

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Actually, removing that opening scene wouldn't hurt the movie much. It was somewhat gratuitous, barely contributing to the storyline or characterization. It only served to demonstrate Pedro's discretion.

I'm not saying I didn't like it. ;-)

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

I can't remember: did you post about this movie?

Re: Oh that cake!

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Regrettably I forgot to take pictures of the finished cake. Don't know what I was thinking. I guess the icing bowl distracted me. I don't believe anyone took pics at the party.

I was impressed with the movie's characterization. Even the grandmother was sympathetic. Pedro's reaction to her was understandable, and yet I could sympathize with her motives, too.

[queenmomcat.livejournal.com]

Oh, trust me, I'll enjoy THAT icing wherever it ends up!

<blush!>

[djjo.livejournal.com]

Ahem - yes. Well. I should remember not to type before finishing breakfast, or something like that. 'IT' was the cake, and not me.

Re: wonderfully decadent

[queenmomcat.livejournal.com]

[wicked expression] I'm sure he does...

Re: <blush!>

[queenmomcat.livejournal.com]

There, there, we've all made embarassing typos before.

Re: I'm curious...

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

And I felt the later scenes in the bathhouse and park were more essential to the plot and Pedro's character, too.

[dakoopst.livejournal.com]

I did, though it was part of a larger "this is what I did today" post, so it would have been easy to miss. (In addition, I was a little vague, because I didn't want to spoil the movie for those who hadn't seen it.) Here's the entry:

http://www.livejournal.com/users/dakoopst/240873.html

and then, a total fluff comment

[roosterbear.livejournal.com]

12 oz of chocolate, a pound of butter, a dash of vanilla, a few dashes of Cointreau and some icing sugar.

I so need to move to Canada. Or at least visit more often.

Re: and then, a total fluff comment

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Dinner at Danny and Bill's every Sunday. Lots of excellent food. Just let us know you're coming. ;-)

[handlebear.livejournal.com]

I can see you and Danny wearing that Icing:)

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Hehe, we were so greedy diving for the remnants left in the bowl we never got to thinking about more creative uses. Obviously we would have had more fun with you around. ;-)