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January 31, 2025There’s something particularly cruel about those whose work stands in direct contrast with who they are. That contradiction may be something that happens from the very start or gradually develops with time, but it doesn’t make it any less painful. Plainclothes follows a protagonist so unsure of who he is that he gets paid to catch those just like him, leading them into deceit and only affirming that, as society has consistently shown him, there is something inherently wrong with who he is.
Lucas (Tom Blyth) works with the local police department to entrap gay men, locking eyes with them in the food court of the mall and leading them to the bathroom. He’s very careful not to say or do anything that can legally make it seem like he was the one offering sex, and he signals his partner Ron (Christian Cooke) if they’ve acted sufficiently to merit their arrest. When he meets Andrew (Russell Tovey), he panics and calls off the operation, communicating later with the man he finds incredibly alluring and beginning a romance that serves as his first real opportunity to feel and express something that he believes to be strictly forbidden and could greatly jeopardize everything he has in his life.
This is the first feature from writer-director Carmen Emmi, who sets this film, which is inspired by a true story, in 1997, just a few years after his own birth. Grainy VHS footage is frequently used, both to show Lucas’ childhood and other formative moments and to represent the panic and conflict racing through him as he spends each day hunting for those just like him who happen to be a little bit less lucky. His return to the same place over and over with the same intentions could surely feel monotonous and repetitive to someone like his gruff, insensitive partner, but Lucas wears the pain and uncertainty of that morally questionable job on his face each and every time.
It’s disheartening to think that this film takes place less than thirty years ago, with police resources being allocated to actively setting up people who society viewed as degenerate and unacceptable. While not everyone has come to accept the diverse array of genders and sexual orientations that are now warmly welcomed in liberal circles across the country and world, it certainly looks much different than this. While Lucas knows the grim reality of what he has to do on a daily basis, Andrew repeatedly expresses what Lucas views as an unfounded hope for the future, smiling softly as he assures him that, one day, people like them will be able to live freely.
That optimism is just one of the many things that attracts Lucas, who can’t even confidently say out loud to anyone in his life that he is gay, to the much more relaxed and charming Andrew. Blyth and Tovey, seen recently on television in Billy the Kid and Feud: Capote vs. The Swans, respectively, have tremendous chemistry, unspoken for their first few scenes and then passionate in a way that feels much more than physical. Their demeanors are extremely different, with Andrew at ease but also keeping himself at a distance and Lucas genuinely unsure of what to do, desperately attracted to this man but well aware of the consequences for not being too careful.
This is a film full of trauma that also includes heartwarming moments whenever its two superb leads are together. Blyth conveys so much of the conflict within Lucas in each scene, and it’s particularly captivating to watch him in the orbit of his family, including his mother Marie (Maria Dizzia), who he tells Andrew would not be okay if she ever found out that he was gay. Emmi navigates a sensitive story that feels both important and informative, extremely nostalgic in a way that isn’t always positive but speaks to the necessarily muted passion and self-expression of many generations.
Movie Rating: 8/10