Review: Plainclothes – “a masterful concoction of sights and sounds with brilliant editing work and an original soundtrack to die for”

In a world that’s once again becoming hostile to the LGBTQ+ community at an alarming rate, films like Plainclothes aren’t just timely. They are necessary and essential viewing for both queer audiences who deserve proper representation in media and for the rest of the population who need educating and can hopefully learn empathy from the power of cinema.

In these lean and mean 95 minutes, American filmmaker Carmen Emmi has crafted an assured feature debut that’s part psychological thriller, part romance and part family drama, but it’s especially an affecting exploration of identity, shame and the journey to find the courage to be yourself, despite societal repression.

Plainclothes is set in the 90s and takes place in Syracuse, New York, in a Grindr-less era when cruising was the main hook-up option for gay men. Lucas, played with mesmerizing intensity by rising star Tom Blyth (The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, TV’s Billy the Kid), is a young undercover cop who acts as bait in sting operations to arrest gay men engaging in lewd acts.

However, right from the beginning, we witness distress and remorse in Lucas after he lures the unsuspecting men into bathroom stalls of strip malls, only to have them immediately taken away and ruin their lives. Truth is that our protagonist is battling with his own attraction to the same sex and has just broken up with his girlfriend, whilst also dealing with his father being unwell and his mother needing support during such hard times.

One day, those demons catch up with him as the latest victim of his professionally orchestrated deceit, an older man called Andrew, has a hypnotizing effect on Lucas, so he decides to call off the operation and pretend that Andrew is not a target. But the man has passed Lucas a note with a phone number, which leads to a first meeting in a cinema for a matinee where the ice gets broken between the two and a steamy follow-up encounter in a greenhouse that shakes Lucas’ world to the core.

Our inexperienced young man develops feelings for Andrew, but the elusive object of his desire, despite liking him back, has no intention of jeopardizing the delicate balance between his cosy façade life and his secret one, so he cuts off communication, sending Lucas into a spiral. Tom Blyth captures the overwhelming state of his character with subtlety, yet showing an amazing range as Lucas is pulled into family drama, struggles in a job he can no longer reconcile with and grapples with his newly found identity that’s hard to get comfortable with and requires constantly looking over your shoulder.

Russell Tovey portrays Andrew with captivating charm and nuanced emotion, complementing Blyth’s vulnerability and pathos. After all, Andrew may be more experienced, but he’s still stuck in similar patterns of shame and inability to ignore his desires. The actors’ chemistry is undeniable, and their intimate encounters come across as authentically raw and painfully soulful. If there was anything remotely fair about award season these two incredible performances should be included in this year’s discourse.

Playing with style and structure, from a fragmented timeline to sequences shot in low-fi VHS to illustrate our hero’s anxiety attacks and increasing paranoia of getting found out, Carmen Emmi uses the aesthetic tools at his disposal to create beautiful and poignant cinematic storytelling. The film is in fact a masterful concoction of sights and sounds with brilliant editing work and an original soundtrack to die for by genius music artist Emily Wells. It’s practically a coming-out story within a genre flick boasting slick cinematography and period detail that make for an atmospheric piece, packed with edge-of-your-seat tension and emotional grandeur.

The way Plainclothes builds up towards its cathartic climax is compelling and heartbreaking and the less you know about the sparse narrative the better. The biggest compliment I could give to Carmen Emmi is that his direction and the look of the film feel like 70s golden age cinema made with the sensibility and intelligence of Andrew Haigh’s work. I was deeply moved by the story’s resonance with my own experience growing up closeted and repressed in the 90s and by the time that charged final scene hit me, it became evident I’d just watched an instant queer classic.

Plainclothes is in selected UK cinemas for preview screenings and it opens wide on October 10th.