Skip to main content

Das Sommerhaus (German) [The Summer House]

By Golu
Having read the synopsis of the film, I was quite intrigues. This subject could not be any more controversial just with its basic plot and theme. Unfortunately, the execution of the plot in the film does not play out as well as it does on paper. The resulting film is a lacklustre piece of jumbled ideas and mixed messages.

That Larsens are a picture perfect family. Father Markus, mother Christina and their almost 12 year old daughter Elizabeth. They have a perfect house and a summer house (a little gazebo in the woods). But right from the beginning we see that there is something brewing in the foundation of this family.. We don’t see any direct ambushes but clearly its a dysfunctional family. A close friend of Markus is in deep financial trouble and Markus offers to help him with some money, but her may need more. Very casually , the friend mentions his boy Johannes to be nice to Elizabeth. When Markus meets the 12-year old boy at his home playing with Elizabeth, he feels affection for him. By this time we have realised that Markus is bisexual and has flings with men on the side. Markus begins to approach Johannes and creates an intimacy of which he increasingly loses control. This includes the two of spending time with each other on weekends but doing nothing intimate except setting with their t-shirts off. So while both the wife and daughter are still very affected and stirred by Markus’ complete disinterest in their life, Johannes, as it turns out , has a plan of his own. He shows one day to Markus’ home and demands 150k euros other wise he will tell people that Markus has been assaulting a young boy. Shocked by the turn o events , he leaves him to go to the bank while Johannes stays home with mom and the daughter. The ending is left vague with Elizabeth walking towards Johannes with a knife ready to attack him.

As mentioned about, it is not easy film to watch but the good story on paper did not turn out very good on screen. There are so many scenes that fee unnecessarily stretched. IT feels that it could’ve been a made for TV film and reduced the duration by at least 30 minutes. Th film starts off well but begins to get weird and disappointing soon and it never recovers from it. The whole point of Markus’ friend and his girlfriend making out after dinner and engaging in sex which Christine joins but ends up showing Markus having sex with his wife without completion didn’t make any sense. It had nothing relevant to the story. Also the mother-daughter bond was quite strange. She seemed all a bit of freak to me, which Elizabeth mentions to her father as well. The other weird aspect is of the whole suicide showdown by Christine. I mean if as a couple they are clearly unhappy, then just move on for Christ’s sake. Then the whole closeness of Markus with Johannes. What was Markus’ intention. A healthy flirty relationship with a young man who could easily be his son or was it just a way to escape his family life.

The film is a bit too confusing and too jumbled to follow for my tastes. And added to it, the relatively slow pace of the film doesn’t really help. (4/10)

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Shortest Distance is Round 3: Fallen Flowers

By Golu
Continuing with the weird trilogy of "The Shortest Distance", I am so glad that finally I am done with part 3 and won't have to deal with this again in future. Thankfully, as of now the makers have not announced any further parts; which will save all of us on this earth from the embarrassment of watching this in near future. After the first 10 minutes are used in sort of recapping bits of first two parts, the story moves forward. Haruto is now starting to have feelings for Ruka, the mysterious pole dancer from second part. In a fit of rage, Ruka ends up killing the goat man and to save him and Haruto, Shibahara asks them to go underground. Meanwhile Shibahara continues the search for Seiya (the guy who had cut off Haruto's penis). It turns out Seiya is now also taking care of the original club owner from part 1. Both of them were released after they had informed Shibahara of Aoyama's secret location. Shibahara tortures Seiya's boyfriend leading to Seiya killin...
5 comments
Read more

Sei no Gekiyaku (Japanese) [Dangerous Drugs of Sex]

By Golu
Every person has their own unique way of dealing with loss. This film is as much a psychological thriller as it is a soft porn BDSM portrayal of two young men that makes the film overall horrifying as well as humane. It is really hard to describe the genre of this film in one word. Its important not that the film has some really disturbing scenes so if you go into seeing this film, please proceed with caution. Although any sexual non-consensual activity is not ok, this film has its won strange way of showing that suicide is not the only solution to all life's problems. Makoto is a regular office goer, who just finds out that his girlfriend is probably cheating on him. ON top of it, his parents sudden death coming back from a trip that he forced them to take, he gets completely dejected and decides to commit suicide. Unknown to him, he is saved by mysterious man Yoda Ryoji, and he wakes up finding himself tied up in leather and belts in a very BDSM setting. This mysterious saver soo...
3 comments
Read more

One Summer Night (Korean)

By Golu
I really wanted to like this film but for non native speakers, these movie leaves a lot to be understood and the way scenes were unfolding in front of me, I wasn't sure many times what was really going on. The story had potential button getting any back story on any of the characters limited my ability to empathize with any of these actors. Film starts with two North Korea military guys Yong Joon and Jae Sung having sex and they are caught red handed and they run. Three years later we see Yong Joon in Seoul leading a very mundane and poor life. He has a boyfriend Tae-Kyu, who is a weird guy. He is carefree, doesn't do any work and is completely emotional and financially dependent on Young Joon. In fact, even Yong Joon will go to any lengths to protect him , fend for him and taking care of him to the extent of even taking up prostitution. Suddenly one day Jae Sung appears in their life again. His motivation is not clear but it is obvious he wants Yong Joon back in his life, who ...
Post a Comment
Read more