Like boarding a flight for someplace promising, solely to be met with an emergency touchdown, Departures by no means fairly reaches the emotional depth it units out for. This collaboration between filmmaking duo Lloyd Eyre-Morgan and Neil Ely begins on the finish, retelling its story in a manner that’s non-linear. Because the movie’s tagline reads, “They are saying one of the simplest ways to maneuver ahead is to return…”. Instantly, the administrators set out their experimental ambitions, but what follows struggles to take care of this preliminary intrigue.
When Benji, performed by Eyre-Morgan himself, meets the strapping Jake (David Tag) at an airport bar, the 2 undergo a cycle of shifting relationship dynamics as they vacation collectively in Amsterdam. There’s an unmistakable British tone, one which closely leans into the language and aesthetic of Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting, but in a manner that typically feels barely performative. It borders on what appears like a parody of British tradition – a very homosexual and unapologetic Trainspotting.
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The movie’s use of multimedia, layering illustrations over frames of key moments, provides it a sense of considerable playfulness. It’s a sort of, “we will do regardless of the fuck we would like,” vitality that feels tied to its impartial roots, one of many few parts that provides the movie a distinct identification, regardless of how comparable it feels at instances to the softer queer media modifying within the beloved Netflix collection, Heartstopper.
To its credit score, Departures is clearly attempting to navigate themes of trauma, need, and self-sabotage. It additionally touches on Jake’s internalised homophobia and projections of masculinity, which create a pressure with Benji as he desperately makes an attempt to kind a extra emotional connection, not in contrast to the dynamics explored in Harry Lighton’s 2025 dom/sub comedy, Pillion. But whereas navigating the trysts of submissive BDSM homosexual tradition, it falls into the identical traps that so many narratives do, isolating queer expertise right into a cycle of trauma with little room for happiness or progress. Too typically it feels on the nostril, sacrificing depth for repetition of lust. The place Pillion efficiently explores this terrain with a extra gradual and nuanced understanding of behaviour, Departures continues to recycle intercourse, alcohol and extra intercourse rather than actually connecting with its characters.
Granted, some viewers could really feel aligned with the tradition that Eyre-Morgan and Ely form, but for the informal observer, it could be troublesome to attach with and straightforward to really feel alienated by what’s proven. Moments that trace at vulnerability are repeatedly lower quick, not often allowed ample time to breathe earlier than collapsing again into the identical patterns of, you guessed it, intercourse, or not less than discussions of sexuality. To present the movie its credit score, this doubtless feels intentional, exhibiting how Benji continues to position himself in these reckless conditions. As a outcome, it dangers feeling like a collage of stereotypes, moderately than a critique of them.
There are flashes of one thing extra compelling. A handful of softer scenes counsel a extra resonant movie beneath the floor, and the ultimate third exhibits indicators of development with a considerably satisfying conclusion. However these moments stay frustratingly temporary. For all its stylistic, typically overwhelming ambition, Departures in the end feels grounded.
