Miguel Angel Ferrar’s feature The Shadow of the Sun is a classic underdog story that blends queer themes, outsider perspectives, and a plot that involves a contest’s life-changing prize money. The device is hoary at best, but Ferrar brings understated to the story, while leading man Carlos Manuel González fully inhabits the film’s world-weary central character, Leo, a working-class guy who can’t seem to catch a break. He’s on the verge of having the home he shares with Yolanda (Greisy Mena), a fist-class shrew, sold out from under him; his boss never misses a chance to castigate and humiliate him; his motorcycle is perpetually on the fritz; and he’s been estranged from his Deaf younger brother, Alex (Anyelo Lopez), for years.

It’s to Alex that Leo must turn, though, when his troubles become overwhelming. Alex is having problems of his own, in the form of a gang of thugs who extort the bakery he runs for “security service” — thugs who would be just as happy to murder Alex for being queer as for not paying up on time. It’s only Leo’s cool-headed intervention (and wad of American dollars) that saves Alex from violence during the gang’s latest visit, and it’s Alex’s optimism that he can write a song worthy of a music contest’s first-place prize money that gives the beaten-down Leo some semblance of the spark he once possessed, especially since Alex is convinced that Leo’s gifts as a singer will put the song over the top.

Caught up in Alex’s hopeful vision, Leo sets about reassembling his old band, all of whom have moved on and turned to new career paths: bass player Pedro (Pedro Alonso) is now a taxi driver, drummer Bimbin (Richard Clark) has become a priest overseeing a parish in a parish stricken by water shortages, and guitarist Sindo has left this vale of tears… though he’s also left behind a daughter, Tita (Camila Curtis) whose general demeanour is as fierce as her playing. Problems like rehearsal space, instruments, and figuring out who gets what cut of the hypothetical prize money take a back seat to the threat posed by the “security service” extortionists, whose bullying ways prime them to destroy the dreams of those around them on general principles.

There’s a twist here, though, in that one of the gang members, Brayian (Jeizer Ruiz), has a soft spot for Alex. One of the film’s most intriguing subplots (underdeveloped, alas) is the budding romance between Alex and Brayian. The street thug shows unexpected tenderness in deciphering Alex’s sign language and, learning that Alex reads lips, he invites: “Read this.” The Ferrar’s camera reverses angles so that we can’t see what Braiyan says to Alex, but we can read Alex’s delighted expression well enough to get the hint.

Mostly, however, this is Leo’s journey, and it involves Yolanda’s constant harangues, savvy street diplomacy when dealing with the local rough guys, and a ratty sofa that, as it happens, contains the seeds for a possible new future. Carlos Manuel Gonzalez ends up carrying the film most of the time, and he does such an impressive job that the film has swept up a slate of festival awards as well as going on to represent Venezuela at the Academy Awards. Anyelo Lopez shoulders his scenes with equal skill, charisma, and conviction; he’s a star in the making, and one to watch.

The Shadow of the Sun is streaming now.