The movie focuses on a straight-acting gay teenager, David (played by theatre actor Sandino Martin). His grandmother (Boots Anson Roa) raised him while his parents both work abroad. The film starts with him making love with his boyfriend, Jonathan (Angelo Ilagan) on Christmas eve. After their tryst, Jonathan drops him and tells David to forget him. David is heartbroken, especially when he sees Jonathan with someone new on Facebook. He becomes desperate, carves Jonathan’s name on his arm and we see him walking through the crowd aimlessly, planning something deadly inside his mind. He goes to a gaybar and allows himself to be picked up by another gay and they do the act in an abandoned building like animals. He continues to pine for Jonathan and this leads to tragedy right on Christmas Day.
“Unfriend” shows how the internet can be dangerous, what with information easily available online to reveal to you some deadly secrets of other people or tell you things you should not know as a teenager, like how to buy firearms illegally and how to operate them through youtube.
Sandino Martin inhabits his role as the lonesome gay teen looking for love and turning to violence once he’s spurned. You can feel the desperation slowly growing inside of him. This is an impressive film debut of this theatre actor we first saw in “Piaf”. He’s ably supported by Boots Anson Roa as his “lola” who’s clueless about his plight and by Angelo Ilagan as the object of his affection. Those who appreciate indie films will enjoy the film language employed by Altarejos in “Unfriend”. The liberal use of the shaky handheld camera with natural lighting might alienate those who appreciate only mainstream films, but it’s effectively utilized here to give it a more gritty grimy texture that’s appropriate to the material.
