Horst in Translation ([email protected])
Much more. "Romeos" is a German movie from 5 years ago written and directed by Sabine Bernardi. No surprise to see she is back to directing mediocre television projects as her effort here for this film is fairly mediocre as well, sometimes even bad. It runs for slightly over 90 minutes and takes us into the world of a young woman who intends to become a man via surgery. The first and possibly biggest problem is that the protagonist is played by a male and, not at one single point in the film, looks physically in a way like she has ever been a woman from the biological perspective. So yeah, bad casting decision, bad makeup etc. Your pick to make. Speaking about the story, it is not more convincing either. They try so hard to make this a touching film, but it never really gets past the attempt. The acting is not good on many occasions and the script isn't any better.The most known cast mate is certainly Liv Lisa Fries, who has become a breakthrough artist in recent years and been the lead in her own coming-of-age films recently. But she cannot elevate the material here either. In my opinion, this film has the same problem as so many other LBGT-themed movies. It is about a certain subject and, as a consequence, gets appreciated by audiences and awards bodies a lot more than it should. Audiences to whom this concerns should not just suck it up because it is about a certain subject, but they also need to want a certain level of quality, a level that is not reached here at any point. You cannot even blame the filmmakers for putting in so little effort if including a certain subject is already enough for a film to be liked. This is not a good film here and deserves none of the appreciation and popularity it received. I do not recommend checking it out. Thumbs down.
Norbert Held
Nice little, never boring love and sex movie, trying to convey a serious topic. Nice to be seen for one time. With sexy actors in often sexy action and a funny, over sexy, up to exciting content. There are only few seriously inspiring or aspiring parts: (potential spoiler!) e.g. the voip sessions and the scene with the little sister. Otherwise trivial, shallow or fake.Bads:Extremely cliché rich concerning the following clichés: overly macho-like, violent and homophobic Southern Europeans; homophobic Southern Germans (Bavarians); overly mobbingful young people; sexist clichés in young people, i.e. "all girls are nice and sweet, all boys are nasty and mean"; gay man have sex with each other always and everywhere. All that is not reality and is tiresome to watch.All people in the movie look like super models or at least pretty attractive (in a porno this would be good, a "normal" movie is only rendered incredible). And yes: The average German and also the average Southern European does not look like a model.Rich in crypto-pornography, i.e. something pretends to be non-pornographic, though it's actually not, e.g. if in a movie all people are super-hot with no content-wise reason; normally to be seen in most mainstream US-American movies.The movie shows the life of the roles as consisting only of party, sex, leisure time and a little bit of sleep ("fun porn"), although the protagonist lives in a dorm for civilian servicers/nurses, and I was curious what problems or difficulties may occur in his everyday work because of his transgernderness. That again are elements of crypto-pornography and unrealism.Too much "deus ex machina", i.e. incredible coincidences that are used to support and promote the action; also the cliché elements are particularly used in this way, what the authenticity of the whole movie suffers from.The precarious situations the protagonist runs into because of his transgenderness are also mostly incredible. Real transgenders are just much better in hiding their secrets.The end is no end, the movie just breaks off, and additionally in the best moment, to make the missing of the end dramaturgically particularly meaningful, a true content-wise meaning though (for me) is not recognizable.Gives a simplified (misleading) idea of transgenderness.Goods:The residual of the accustomed girl-like dealing with his female best friend from former times is well depicted by the protagonist.His reactions to the first positive responses from other boys to his new male appearance are well depicted by the protagonist.The female breasts (of the boy) look super-extremely real.In general, the actors do a good job.The basic ideas of the movie are super (would be great, if they would be realized more well in the future).The depictions of the actors are per se good and entertaining to see.Gives a simplified (easy to understand) idea of transgenderness.
arizona-philm-phan
"Romeos"....is a Carefree title....a Fun title. BUT, buckle up your seatbelts and hold on tight....for the ride you're about to be taken on is, often, neither carefree nor fun. And why is that? Because, over and over, you'll be asking yourself: HOW is this young guy...this Rick Okon, from a little town in the Northeast fringes of Germany, able to drag us inch by inch by inch into all his emotional turmoil: Into his shyness...his physical discomfort...his fear of discovery...his beginnings of love? ....And while doing so with little more than his frequent arms-hugging-himself poses...his facial expressions...and those dark EYES. Well, the answer is just something you'll have to figure out after the trip. For each of us, it will have been different.But...forget the "HOW" we've just discussed. More important is the "WHAT"....for what we are being given here is a Near-Equal to the Oscar winning Best Actor performance in 1999's "Boys Don't Cry". That time, Hilary Swank......this time, a rising young German star. As the transgendering Lukas, Okon takes us along on an important part of his journey through the swirling emotions of Hormone Replacement Therapy. And on to complete physical transformation from female-to-male. BUT....in this film, unlike in others, the end goal is to find a same-sex (Male / Male) relationship. About which, please note the following:(( I can talk about this movie's particular sex-change circumstances in no better way than to paraphrase a quote by Reviewer, "nnenok from Slovenia" (here at IMDb.com): The MOST IMPORTANT lesson this film gives to us and to any already Transgendered-to-Male person (who is attracted to another Male) IS: ...Being attracted to a woman doesn't make you a man---but FEELING like a man does. )) So...maybe "Boys Don't Cry". Yet, perhaps at times, this film will bring you to the verge of doing so. For what we are seeing is a near breath-taking and heart wrenching performance (I often recall James Dean), about a young, transgendering German who has fallen for a macho Lover-Boy type. Yes, yes, Maximilian Befort, as Fabio, has a face and body which will keep your dreams HOT for days. A Lover-Boy?...sure. A Sex Bomb?...you bet. In fact, he's Sex on a Stick! YET, despite acting self-centered and forever off to the next conquest, his scenes with Lukas are always exciting ones...giving us a gut feel for the Fever which is building up between these 2, a Fever always tempered by fear of Fabio discovering the hidden transgendered condition.As to Fabio's side of this relationship, he is kept almost always off-balance, and in a perplexed state: Lukas being turned-on by Fabio...quickly followed by instances of Lukas shutting Fabio down. But, still, hard as it is to live with the emotional changes being thrown at him...Fabio does keep trying; he keeps coming back for more. (Leading to this Reviewer's opinion that Lukas has him hooked....letting the line out, then pulling it back--even if not always aware he's doing so).And so, I TRULY BELIEVE the ending lovemaking scene is giving us The Key to this relationship; oh, yes indeed, it is. BUT, that is not half as much as we are being told by the last few seconds shot, wherein we are watching through the lens of a digital camera...and seeing: A deliriously happy, and completely transgendered Lukas, taking off running into seaside sand dunes toward water's edge. Come on, now....STOP AND THINK about it! That CAN'T be all we're seeing. Because you know what? SOMEONE is holding that camera....You wanna take any bets as to WHO?Enjoy this Special Movie....And, thank you, Sabine.PS--And amidst all the turmoil...Thank Heavens for the occasional fun, lightness, and warm support given by terrific young actress, Liv Lisa Fries, as "Ine"...the B(Girl)FF of our Lukas during their growing-up years.****
