Review of Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, directed by Aitch Alberto

While I know now that this movie had a wildly popular book it was adapted from, I had no idea that this book existed before watching the movie. I had no idea the movie existed until May 2024, when I was casually going on Kanopy until they discontinued use on the kind of television I had.

I get Kanopy through my library branch, so I was spending a lot of May, when I had graduated school and was basically just letting my brain rot for the longest time. This meant I was watching a ton of movies, and I cleared through quite a bit of books while I was sitting at home.

I opened Kanopy one day and saw that Aristotle and Dante was added to the new movie section, and it was the title that sucked me in. I will admit, I am a sucker for things that have references to literature, hence why I have an entire book review section on this blog.

So I watched the movie without even reading the synopsis. One could say I came in completely blind.

Here’s my review!

Two teenagers bond in El Paso, Texas, over the secrets of the universe and their lives.

This movie is set in 1987, before cellphones existed and teenagers were glued to them, when Aristotle is pissed off at his parents. His parents won’t tell him what he wants to know about his brother, who has been incarcerated, so he heads off into the world instead of hanging around at home.

One day he decides to go to a public pool, where he meets a kid named Dante. He’s also Mexican-American, and Dante, despite him being a little eclectic, teaches him how to swim in the pool. They then become friends quickly after that, and they start spending more days together.

Dante, who’s parents have more money, offer to bring Aristotle on a camping trip with them. He agrees to tag along with the family, and then spends the night with Dante gazing at the night sky.

However, things are about to change towards the end of the summer. Dante’s father, who is a professor (hence his name coming from literature), has been offered a new job. The family is slated to move to Chicago along with him, and that means they are going to be separated.

Things hit the fan when Dante is looking at a baby bird in the road, and Aristotle pushes him out of the way when a car is approaching. He becomes injured in the process. We then flash forward to the year without Dante, where Ari gets a truck and finds himself at school, finally fitting in with his peers.

He also begins a relationship with a classmate, while Dante writes to him. The more Dante writes, the more we realize that Dante definitely is not straight and is coming to terms with that.

We also learn that Aristotle’s brother was sent to jail for killing a prostitute, specifically one who was trans.

Eventually, the summer comes back, and Dante’s family returns. The two drive out to the desert, but then Dante asks Aristotle to kiss him. He reacts poorly, and isn’t too kind about directly learning about his homosexuality. His Tia then passes away, and he realizes she was a lesbian—hence why she was shunned by the family.

Dante is attacked by homophobic boys and ends up in the hospital. Aristotle beats up one of the boys, and then he realizes he is in love with Dante. He takes him out to the desert, confesses his feelings, and the movie ends with them lying together holding hands.

Overall Thoughts

This was a pretty cute movie, outside the moments of homophobia. I felt like it was a little bit bland to me story-wise, although we love good Latinx representation alongside LGBTQ+ issues.

I don’t think I would return to it in the near future, but I am glad I watched the film. There is so much to learn from consuming movies like these thoughtfully, and I’m going to continue doing so.

If you have not watched this already and would like to do so, take this as your chance to go and see the film. I think it’s worth watching. Taste is also subjective.

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