Lucas (Tom Blyth), a closeted undercover cop, falls for a married man (Russell Tovey) he’s assigned to entrap in Carmen Emmi’s ’90s-set erotic drama Plainclothes. Initially focused on his duty to arrest men cruising in shopping mall bathrooms, his mission takes an unexpected turn after a charged encounter with one of his marks. What begins as a sting operation becomes intimate and volatile, blurring the lines between secrecy and desire, watcher and watched.

Raised in the shadow of his grandfather’s badge and working in a homophobic department, Lucas starts to crack under the weight of his messy feelings. Editor Erik Vogt-Nilsen’s jagged, VHS-warped style, threaded with haunting flashbacks, mirrors Lucas’s fraying mind, each grain pulsing with anxiety and self-doubt. Plainclothes simmers with urgency, its story of repression and control striking a nerve in a time when queer visibility and freedom are once again under threat.