Antonio Da Silva’s films are completely unique, openly explicit, and erotically charged documents of man-to-man sexuality. Da Silva’s filmmaking often touches on the interactions between technology and hookups, and with Spunk (2015), he goes deep-in to examine and artfully decode our new world of digital media as it redefines gay sexual encounters.
Although cams have been around for awhile now, allowing anyone with the means to experience an unprecedented sexual freedom online, no other filmmaker that I know of has so artfully unfolded the layers of meaning that this new sex/tech revolution brings to us as men. Spunk establishes Antonio Da Silva as one of the premier revolutionary queer filmmakers of our time.
“My work crosses the borders between cinema, pornography and art. My intention is to make it as broad as possible when trying to explain my point of view of male erotica/porn. I like the fact that my films can be in many categories and it is difficult to find a specific context to label them.”
—ANTONIO DA SILVA
Antonio Da Silva is demonstrably an artist to be reckoned with, and all the elements and layers of Spunk can’t be mined in one viewing. It’s a mind-bending, utterly beautiful, deeply sensual and sizzling-hot 36 minutes of images and ideas that add up to a wonderful and fresh erotic experience. He’s captured this historical moment and translated it into orgasmic magic full of witty visuals and cum-worthy delights. Spunk is constantly surprising. Its sequences follow no storytelling aesthetic, but it reveals layers of meaning as segments blend into each other and the tension builds to a must-see Disney-esque climax sequence. In the final, surrealist sequence, men erase themselves into invisibility as they spread their semen across their bodies.
Spunk is an exceptional and important work of art, but it’s not his first. Da Silva now has a body of work that functions as artful and historical documents of our time, and yet it’s also highly erotic masturbation material for whenever you feel like a good wank. With Bankers (2012), Da Silva’s hidden camera documents up-close the frenzied, silent sex happening in a financial district men’s room. In PIX (2014) (WARNING: FLASHING IMAGERY), Antonio animates 2500 amateur men collectively becoming one in the “marketplace of desire.” In Solos (2015) and Daddies (2014) Da Silva’s camera watches men undressing and masturbating while male voices talk about their bodies and their sexuality.
Antonio’s work isn’t just highly erotic, it’s informational and proves that masturbation can be an intellectual act. Both my cock and my mind are engaged while watching Da Silva’s films, and both feel so refreshed afterwards. It’s such a pleasure to watch his work, and I want to extend to Antonio a personal public “Thank you!” for creating such wonderful experiences for his audience.
Antonio Da Silva is an original and innovative contributor to our sexual revolution, and I recommend that each and every one of you check out Spunk and support his work. Spunk can be rented for 350 days for $12 US. Passes are also available to view his entire collection.
EDITOR’S NOTE: BateWorld.com, TheBatorBlog.com and TheBateShop.com are not affiliated with profits from Antonio’s films.
Images from Spunk courtesy of Antonio Da Silva.
Last evening, I invited three bate buddies over to screen Spunk. It was a fascinating exercise. We watched, mostly in silence with a few comments throughout, and then we all gradually got our dicks out and got off together. It was a fantastic session with beautiful penises, great energy and four intense orgasms.
Afterward, I asked, “So, how did you like the movie?”
None of my guests were previously familiar with de Silva’s work and the general sense was that we all liked it, and specifically called out various scenes and moments as favorites… and we all agreed that while intensely erotic and full of what anyone would objectively call “pornography,” none of us would classify the movie as “porn.” The consensus was “erotic art film.”
I then showed them a couple of the “Colby Does America” installments, and we again were in agreement: de Silva’s work is far more intensely erotic and far more completely realized art. I personally love that he’s making good film in an erotic vein and really pushing filmmaking into a new way of thinking about explicitly sexual subject matter.
I think our sense that the film is not “porn” comes from our collective impression over time that porn is specifically intended to stimulate sexual excitement and inspire sexual *activity.* It’s intended to make you hard, make you masturbate or have sex with others and trigger orgasms.
De Silva’s work is more complex and layered. It is not single-mindedly urging the viewer to orgasm, but engaging our minds and feelings along with our libidos, and with a playful, humorous, even absurd angle throughout. For that reason, viewers may not know how to categorize it. It may confuse or disorient audience members since we like to know what we’re looking at.
I’m not going to give a stroke-by-stroke accounting of the movie, just to encourage that you *not* sit down to view this with any porn expectations. Don’t plan on it making you want to stroke or fuck or cum—although it could easily do that—but expect a uniquely thoughtful erotic experience that is much more subtle in it’s way to your cock. It goes in via your thinking brain.
All that said, I will point out that we all were hugely turned on and had fantastic batorsex immediately following the movie. The last third of the film definitely inspired us… so it’s not totally without specific dick inspiration. It just makes you look with your mind first and it makes you see through an artistic lense to get there.
I heartily recommend Spunk, just watch it with an open mind and be ready to either get off or not afterward.
I couldn’t agree more with Paul. I have seen most of his movies and think that his perception on male sexuality is spot on. Bold and daring, his films capture both artistic and, no doubt, erotic sides of male sexuality. One should not approach his films from either angle but both.