REVIEW: ‘Sublime’ Is What Every Queer Kid Deserves From Their Friends

Written and directed by Mariano Biasin, Sublime is a Spanish-language coming-of-age story where Manu (Martín Miller) realizes he’s in love with his best friend Felipe (Teo Inama Chiabrando) and all the while is tortured by dreams, pressure to pursue girls, and the songs he writes for his band that reveal his feelings, even if he doesn’t fully realize it.

Most of Sublime is a fairly classic coming-of-age affair. Manu’s life at home is pretty rocky with his parents at constant odds and neither able to give him the kind of attention and support he so clearly shows he’s needing — not that they don’t sort of try. There are a lot of scenes of Manu and his group of friends practicing in their band together, Manu and Felipe writing music just the two of them, or Manu playing music on his own that feel exactly like what I would imagine a group of decent but unrefined teens would sound like in a rock band together. The songs are all pretty solid but the singing is certainly adolescent in quality.

Since he writes most of it, the music mostly reflects Manu’s only outlet for expressing his growing feelings for Felipe. For once, this isn’t a movie about how things would just be better if everyone talked to each other about how they feel. Manu’s fear of telling anybody the truth, be it Felipe, his girlfriend Azul, or his parents, is the whole point of the movie, and it’s extremely valid. You can feel the awkward tension every time Manu starts getting in his feelings. Especially because in typical teenage male fashion, much of the lives of Manu and his friends revolve around what girls they’re currently dating. Felipe is always after or with somebody, and the jealousy this causes in Manu is palpable. But even still, the way the boys all describe their relationships is perfectly written to sound just like how teenage boys would talk about their girlfriends and flings.

What makes Sublime stand out though is that none of Manu’s struggles with his feelings for Felipe are treated like any bigger deal or different kind of situation than any of the girls the boys chase. Whenever it does start to come up with other characters and Manu starts sharing his feelings even subtly, let alone honestly, everyone involved just treats it like it’s normal and like it’s no different than if Manu was crushing on a girl. This is the kind of experience of “coming out” that I constantly crave and deeply envy, and am so heartened to see depicted here. Manu shouldn’t have to go through anything different than any of his friends who are crushing after girls, and ultimately, he doesn’t have to. Without giving away any specifics, the movie ends in the best possible place any coming-of-age movie could, instantly lifting my spirits.

Sublime is, for the most part, a perfectly fine coming-of-age drama, but as it draws nearer to its end, it proves itself a very welcome depiction of what every queer kid deserves from their friends.

Sublime is available now on VOD.