Socrates review – homelessness and homophobia in São Paulo

A gay teen comes of age in a a desperate situation in this audacious and elegant debut made on a shoestring

Brazilian-American film-maker Alexandre Moratto makes a bold feature debut with Socrates, a very personal, good-looking film resourcefully made on a micro-budget with the help of an LGBT charity in Brazil - and produced by the Iranian film-maker Ramin Bahrani.

Christian Malheiros plays Socrates, a gay teen in Sao Paulo who becomes homeless when his mother dies. (Moratto puts this agonising moment, almost worthy of a Victorian melodrama, at the top of the film.) It leaves him desperate to pay the rent, desperate to find a job and desperate to find his way in the world. And the death of his mum creates a situation in which he can't avoid dealing with his bitter, vengeful and homophobic dad, who has the legal right to his mother's ashes.