Our take
When striving towards your life goal, some concessions have to be made in order to get there, e.g. you would forgo some wants in order to fulfill that higher purpose. But how much are you willing to sacrifice? Mario is a sports drama about an aspiring football player that wants to make it higher up in the league, but it’s also a queer drama, since to be that professional means to stick to a rigid notion of masculinity for the fans, for the sponsors, and sometimes for fellow homophobic teammates competing against them. At two hours, the naturalistic depiction of Mario’s experience might be a tad too long for some viewers, but the film understands the fear, the pressure, and the compromises gay athletes are forced to go through.
The story
Two young gay soccer players get caught up between the politics of the game and the politics of love.
Having a promising career in professional football, Mario hopes to make it to a first league group in the coming year, currently playing at a fifth league group instead. However, while training, his team adds Leon, a striker from Hanover, to the roster. As he moves into their shared apartment, the two get caught up between their budding feelings and having to hide it from their homophobic teammates.
How depressingly real this is.
Mario and Leon deserve better!
The details
Streaming arrival
Who picked it
Isabella Endrinal is a curator at A Good Movie to Watch. She's now free from the corporate night shift. Previous articles have been published in outlets such as NANG Magazine. She's currently catching up on some classic films… if she isn't coping with the fact that the Haikyu anime will end soon.
