This was a difficult film to watch. It seems to take place in its own very unique world, a strangely frozen in time world. It also has multiple storylines that would play out well in a TV series, but started to become distracting.
On one hand, I feel like rating this a 10 because of some brutally honest scenes. But ultimately because it ends in tragedy, and it didn't have to, I cannot say this is a transformative work, only a sad and troubling one.
In brief, Szabolcs is a young up-and-coming soccer player, coached by his dad, who believes his boy has a stellar future ahead of him. But Szabolcs is only playing soccer to please his dad. He has vague dreams of becoming a beekeeper on his grandfather's property. (I guess it is his grandfather's property, and only because I read it in online synopses; it was not thoroughly clear to me from the film itself.) After some field time and shower time (where a fight breaks out between Szabolcs and one of his teammates, Bernard (Sebastian Urzendowsky, who really gave a stellar performance), who has a crush on Szabolcs (a crush that Szabolcs most likely wants to benefit from, but is too afraid), Szabolcs leaves and goes to his grandfather's dilapidated property with vague dreams of fixing it up. (Szabolcs does not verbalize his feelings a lot.) While he's there, a pair of men see his motorcycle parked on the property and decide to steal it. But Szabolcs is superfast on his feet and catches the perpetrator, Áron (played by Ádám Varga, a legitimately sensual screen presence).
The storyline turns murky here because it seems that Szabolcs is going to "punish" Áron for stealing the bike by having him help Szabolcs remodel Gramps' old house. This leads to a series of adventures that ultimately end up with a hot night on the beach, where Áron discovers, to his shock and surprise, that he actually might have sexual feelings for Szabolcs, who also (now far away from home and free to experiment) is no longer holding back who he really is.
This borderline "Brokeback Mountain" relationship is played out through a long series of family/friend/school/church-related subplots, the gist of which amount to: you cannot be gay and live in this area/town/county/country. It is really sad, tragic and disturbing on all levels. It oddly feels that no one in this very cloistered world has ever experienced (and/or has any knowledge or awareness of) homosexuality, and so, those in the majority feel they must stamp it out and punish those involved.
As such, there is a lot of violence in this film. It sadly looks like the actors really suffered through the punishment doled out by town cretins who think they are morally superior when in fact they are stupid, ignorant, obnoxious low-lifes. These episodes will be familiar to any marginalized person who has been victimized by righteous morons who think they run the world.
So, both Szabolcs and Áron try to ride the wave of these attacks, and it seems that Áron is much more interested in maintaining the relationship with Szabolcs, who has so much inner turmoil that you don't know whether to cry and hug him or slap him and tell him to grow up.
Then, when it seems that Szabolcs has perhaps lost Áron as a result of all these incidents that collude to separate them, he calls Bernard, apologizes for attacking him in the shower, and says that he's alone and that there's nothing and no one where he is. Bernard, who, it is now clear, has a deep, deep love for Szabolcs, soon shows up and even though Szabolcs resists it, he soon finds himself kissing Bernard passionately.
But then events conspire against Áron, and as you can imagine, the only thing that makes sense to him is returning to Szabolcs -- only to find that Áron bathing him.
This leads to some wild time for the three men in a nearby river. It starts as arguing and shoving and then, in a shocking twist, Bernard grabs Áron and starts making out with him. Szabolcs soon joins in and then it seems we have a happy trio.
But of course, we do not, and how the rest of the relationships play out, I will leave for you to see yourself. But I can say that it does not end well or happily... but it could have. And because it doesn't, it really, really hurts. It hurts because it just reinforces the belief that homosexuality must be punished or abolished, because it somehow inexplicably causes otherwise "straight" men to do things they otherwise wouldn't do. That's the gist of this story and because that's the path that it ultimately leads us down, I cannot recommend it, unless you are willing to sit through a lot of violence for a few moments of intense tenderness and sensuality.
The beauty of this film, if I can say this, is that both Szabolcs and especially Áron come off as straight men. And that is the intriguing thing about this movie -- it's like they were both removed from their realities for a while and a door unlocked in both of them and, for a special window of time, they had this intensely beautiful, sensual relationship. If this relationship had somehow survived (and it could have), I think this film might be considered a flawed triumph.
Unfortunately, it succumbs to the dark side and as such... what is the benefit? Yes; there are hateful human beings in this world, but... do we need more reminders of that? Do we need to see once again how hatred of "the other" is justified reason to kill them or destroy their lives or worlds? So, on one hand, I must give props to the filmmaker for basically confirming a horrible truth about the world, but on the other hand, I must offer criticism, because it hurled to the ground what was otherwise a powerful, unique story.
If you need a happy ending or hope, you are not going to find it here. But if you are willing to subject yourself to a sad, tragic film, you might find it of interest.
On one hand, I feel like rating this a 10 because of some brutally honest scenes. But ultimately because it ends in tragedy, and it didn't have to, I cannot say this is a transformative work, only a sad and troubling one.
In brief, Szabolcs is a young up-and-coming soccer player, coached by his dad, who believes his boy has a stellar future ahead of him. But Szabolcs is only playing soccer to please his dad. He has vague dreams of becoming a beekeeper on his grandfather's property. (I guess it is his grandfather's property, and only because I read it in online synopses; it was not thoroughly clear to me from the film itself.) After some field time and shower time (where a fight breaks out between Szabolcs and one of his teammates, Bernard (Sebastian Urzendowsky, who really gave a stellar performance), who has a crush on Szabolcs (a crush that Szabolcs most likely wants to benefit from, but is too afraid), Szabolcs leaves and goes to his grandfather's dilapidated property with vague dreams of fixing it up. (Szabolcs does not verbalize his feelings a lot.) While he's there, a pair of men see his motorcycle parked on the property and decide to steal it. But Szabolcs is superfast on his feet and catches the perpetrator, Áron (played by Ádám Varga, a legitimately sensual screen presence).
The storyline turns murky here because it seems that Szabolcs is going to "punish" Áron for stealing the bike by having him help Szabolcs remodel Gramps' old house. This leads to a series of adventures that ultimately end up with a hot night on the beach, where Áron discovers, to his shock and surprise, that he actually might have sexual feelings for Szabolcs, who also (now far away from home and free to experiment) is no longer holding back who he really is.
This borderline "Brokeback Mountain" relationship is played out through a long series of family/friend/school/church-related subplots, the gist of which amount to: you cannot be gay and live in this area/town/county/country. It is really sad, tragic and disturbing on all levels. It oddly feels that no one in this very cloistered world has ever experienced (and/or has any knowledge or awareness of) homosexuality, and so, those in the majority feel they must stamp it out and punish those involved.
As such, there is a lot of violence in this film. It sadly looks like the actors really suffered through the punishment doled out by town cretins who think they are morally superior when in fact they are stupid, ignorant, obnoxious low-lifes. These episodes will be familiar to any marginalized person who has been victimized by righteous morons who think they run the world.
So, both Szabolcs and Áron try to ride the wave of these attacks, and it seems that Áron is much more interested in maintaining the relationship with Szabolcs, who has so much inner turmoil that you don't know whether to cry and hug him or slap him and tell him to grow up.
Then, when it seems that Szabolcs has perhaps lost Áron as a result of all these incidents that collude to separate them, he calls Bernard, apologizes for attacking him in the shower, and says that he's alone and that there's nothing and no one where he is. Bernard, who, it is now clear, has a deep, deep love for Szabolcs, soon shows up and even though Szabolcs resists it, he soon finds himself kissing Bernard passionately.
But then events conspire against Áron, and as you can imagine, the only thing that makes sense to him is returning to Szabolcs -- only to find that Áron bathing him.
This leads to some wild time for the three men in a nearby river. It starts as arguing and shoving and then, in a shocking twist, Bernard grabs Áron and starts making out with him. Szabolcs soon joins in and then it seems we have a happy trio.
But of course, we do not, and how the rest of the relationships play out, I will leave for you to see yourself. But I can say that it does not end well or happily... but it could have. And because it doesn't, it really, really hurts. It hurts because it just reinforces the belief that homosexuality must be punished or abolished, because it somehow inexplicably causes otherwise "straight" men to do things they otherwise wouldn't do. That's the gist of this story and because that's the path that it ultimately leads us down, I cannot recommend it, unless you are willing to sit through a lot of violence for a few moments of intense tenderness and sensuality.
The beauty of this film, if I can say this, is that both Szabolcs and especially Áron come off as straight men. And that is the intriguing thing about this movie -- it's like they were both removed from their realities for a while and a door unlocked in both of them and, for a special window of time, they had this intensely beautiful, sensual relationship. If this relationship had somehow survived (and it could have), I think this film might be considered a flawed triumph.
Unfortunately, it succumbs to the dark side and as such... what is the benefit? Yes; there are hateful human beings in this world, but... do we need more reminders of that? Do we need to see once again how hatred of "the other" is justified reason to kill them or destroy their lives or worlds? So, on one hand, I must give props to the filmmaker for basically confirming a horrible truth about the world, but on the other hand, I must offer criticism, because it hurled to the ground what was otherwise a powerful, unique story.
If you need a happy ending or hope, you are not going to find it here. But if you are willing to subject yourself to a sad, tragic film, you might find it of interest.