Transylvania Film Review: ‘Liquid Truth’

An attractive male swimming instructor is accused of inappropriately kissing a six-year-old boy in Carolina Jabor’s perceptive, handsomely made “Liquid Truth.” Comparisons are inevitable with Thomas Vinterberg’s “The Hunt,” but the topic was hardly exhausted by that one film, and Jabor’s Brazilian take is less focused on the insidiously oppressive social atmosphere, though it hardly shies away from demonizing unproven accusations. Taking inspiration from a play by Catalan author Josep Maria Miró and Ventura Pons’ 2015 film “Virus of Fear,” screenwriter Lucas Paraizo (“Gabriel and the Mountain”) brings heightened awareness to the pernicious conflation of homosexuality and pedophilia, and while some tightening is in order, “Liquid Truth” delivers a satisfying cinematic experience that resulted in several awards at the Rio de Janeiro Film Festival, including the audience prize. Something’s bothering little Alex (Luiz Felipe Mello), but like most six-year-olds, he’s not very verbal. More likely than not,