This indie film is a really powerful look at how a community can suffocate you and the hidden corners young people have to find just to be themselves in so many European towns, even with all the progress we've seen lately. The whole story plays out while the town is bracing for a massive, raging flood, and you just can't shake the feeling that some kind of intense reckoning or unavoidable doom is headed their way. To be honest, I didn't go in with super high expectations, but the way it’s put together makes it a seriously compelling watch. Plus, it’s not every day you get to see an LGBT-themed movie coming out of Croatia! The story follows Marko, a popular 18-year-old kid who seems to have it all—he’s got a girlfriend, he’s a competitive arm wrestler, and he’s well-liked at school. When he isn't in class, he’s usually hanging out with his brother, who has a disability, or helping his mom out in her greenhouse. Everything gets flipped upside down when a guy named Slaven ...
Jaime is a blandly beautiful young man who’s thrown into prison after killing another handsome friend of his. He’s put in a cell with just one bunk bed already occupied by four others. They include the clear alpha male and oldest of the group, Stud, who orders his then young lover to sleep on the floor so that Jaime, who receives the nickname “the prince,” can serve as Stud’s new bed buddy. The 2 other cellmates are also lovers. stud tells him that to survive he needs to toughen up and eventually raping him at night. Another older guy and his extremely young lover are part of neighborhood cell. Through flashbacks, we see Jaime’s development as a sexual being in the real world and to the young man’s friendship with the victim. It's never clearly shown how/when he already got attracted to men. So the prison and sex with Stud gave him a platform to experiment. Jaime slowly starts to come out of shell. The film though largely is about sexuality, it never fails to remind you of the kind of environment these men are staying in while trying to find love. There is a big fight between Stud and the older guy over the former's cat and eventually they both die. Jaime has to toughen up now and the film brilliantly ends up with a new cellmate coming in and Jaime treating him exactly the same way as he was treated by Stud.
The prison in this film feels like the fantasy prison of many gay men. At some point you wonder, if anyone straight in the prison since everyone seems to be sleeping around. Now, this could also be due to the only available resources but doesn't hurt to dream. Even though Stud rapes Jaime first night, but he cares very much for him and eventually Jaime realizes that and they sort of become a couple just like the other couple in their cell. Those two attractive guys really don’t do much else besides look at each other longingly, which almost becomes a kind of strange running gag. I feel there was some history between Stud and the other older guy and even some sexual tension; very similar to the sexual tension that their two young lovers shared. There are a few shots of full front nudity which gay audience will appreciate. My big problem is I didn't understand Jaime as a person at all. What's the story with his father, why kill his friend whom he clearly longs for and then the whole love affair and respect for Stan in prison. Did he have daddy issues or something else was going on? The finale at least makes it crystal-clear what Jaime’s position in the prison hierarchy is. But, again, there is zero sense of how the boy feels about it or whether he even wants that position.
As a film, it was interesting to watch something new, something different. And since this is a adaption of a homoerotic novel, you will have to keep aside the practicalities of a lot of thing and try to enjoy the film for what it is. (6/10)
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