Erotically charged and rippling with unspoken subtext, The Last First Time is one of the year’s best queer festival surprises. Hailing from Mexican director Rafael Ruiz Espejo, Alejandro Quintana plays eighteen-year-old Eduardo in a rather unflinching character study. LGBT+ audiences will no doubt relate to the simplicity of this feature more than others. It meanders through the messiness of Eduardo’s life, living in his truth as he appears to discover it himself. At once a virgin, Eduardo quickly proves that he has no grasp on his sense of self. A sexual awakening of the highest order, The Last First Time embraces one portion of a teen’s struggle with sexuality.
Bookended by scenes of Eduardo doomscrolling on a gay app while traveling on a train, Espejo makes a clear commentary on the cyclical nature of human emotion. Is our lead just as lost by the end of the film as he was at the beginning? Perhaps the answers may come alongside the results of a very important test Eduardo was forced to take. After its completion, Eduardo crosses paths with slender plump-limped cutie, Mario (Carlos E. Lopez Cervantes), and thus opens Pandora’s Box. Once Eduardo experiences a taste of the type of free life he has always wanted, he crosses the point of no return.
For his part, Cervantes’s Mario welcomes Eduardo into his world with open arms. In one of the sweetest sequences, the two head back to Mario’s place expecting a quick hookup, but are instead greeted to a surprise party for Mario. Mario’s family warmly greets Eduardo, a vibe he definitely does not experience at home. Though we never physically see Eduardo’s homophobic mother onscreen, her cold texts and calls are more than enough. Mario does not try to hide Eduardo, either—a cake-smearing exchange between the two emphasizes just how uncomfortable Eduardo becomes when forced to have genuine social interactions. Eduardo apparently connects more with a relative stranger than his own family.
How easy it would be to have a full-on psychological analysis of Eduardo, but Espejo really only gives us one day to spend on analysis. In the opening scene, he snaps some racy nude pictures for his dating profile, later masturbating whilst his mother blows up his phone. An immediacy to the frankness in approaching sex becomes a constant. Emotional beats are just as rich and complicated when it comes to the relationship between Mario and Eduardo. The explicit sexual exchanges never feel gratuitous, but rather an essential part of Eduardo’s identity, and the way he chooses to express that facet of his existence.
Ultimately, The Last First Time is a harrowing drama, light on dialogue, yet high on emotion. Those hunting for eye candy or their next gay obsession may actually find plenty hiding underneath a layer of stylish boozy sheen. Recurrent themes from director Rafael Ruiz Espejo’s short films rear their head as he manages to make us feel for these characters through sparse dialogue. How far he has come from voyeuristic sentient sock in 2016’s Uneven to shower threesome here. The whole affair has a slice-of-life tone that leaves little room for stakes or tension. Instead, the fleeting intimacy of connection takes center stage. Morally murky, unapologetically horny, and deeply human, The Last First Time may be a new favorite.
The Last First Time screened at 2025’s San Francisco International Film Festival.
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