Summer Storm (2004)

Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

Just perfect...

Expected more

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

I'm sure I wouldn't give this movie all them stars if I saw it today. But I know exactly why I did back then.I don't remember what age I was exactly. What I do remember is the loneliness of the closet. I remember changing channel as my older brother went into the living room for a minute. I remember living in shame. I remember quivering as I watched Tobi struggling and finally come out. I think I cried.I'm not sure it was the first gay-themed movie I watched but it definitely wasn't the only one that had this tremendous effect on me ( The two first ones that pop into my head are Brokeback Mountain & Shelter, bot leaving me weeping a while after the end). I could go on with movies that got me feeling so sad yet so full of hope as I was. Or about the ones that I saw or re-watched more recently - as I continue to grow older and more confident with my gayness - that got me thinking and feeling joyful all the while being less normative than a whole of coming-out/coming-of-age gay/bi-themed movies. Oh; that could be a good movie list "Non-normative movies and shows for sad gay kids"! I'll get to it soon.

Summer Storm ('Sommersturm') is a German coming-of-age film written and directed by Marco Kruezpaintner, starring Robert Stadlober. The film chronicles a week in a rowing regatta where the main character, Tobi (Stadlober) questions the depth of his feelings for best friend Achim (Kostja Ullmann) whilst attempting to juggle a "normal" relationship with girlfriend Anke (Alicja Bachleda-Curus). Tobi's confusion is exacerbated with the arrival of rowing team 'The Queerstrokes', who are all out and proud, and an impending summer storm.Despite an occasional music video feel, specifically a cheesy music sequence of the landscape, Kruezpaintner employs some rather striking shots in the film. From a fallen tree, literally isolating Tobi from everyone; to Tobi letting loose and jumping off a lake dock, and, to the actual 'summer storm', Kruezpaintner displays intelligent visual metaphors for the internal confusion and fear that builds up within Tobi.Even more impressive are the performances, with Stadlober perhaps channelling his own experiences (he is openly bisexual) into the difficult, and sometimes selfish, character of Tobi. Also notable is Marlon Kittel's courageous and poignant performance as Leo, the 'Queerstrokes' member who helps Tobi accept his sexuality.What is most surprising about Summer Storm, however, is how it is perhaps aimed just as much towards Queer Film Festival critics as it is to teens. It is both a teen dramedy with honest performances and sensitive direction, and a foreign art-house flick housing a killer soundtrack and frat-boy culture.All involved should be congratulated on presenting a film that is both honest with the psyche of homosexual teenagers, whilst still accessible enough to appeal to most (mature) audiences. A definite winner!

Strange film grace of his original beauty. The essence is self-discover of a teenager but, not his obsessive love for his friend, the ambiguity of feelings, the moral end or the fight with himself, the contact with the "others" are important . The essence is the splendid art to tell, in honest way, with delicate images and ordinary scenes the evolution of a crisis, the gestures of a age, the love as miracle, the fixation and desire of an outsider for who his self-image and the opinion of friends is the fundamental punishment.To be yourself like horrible sin.It is not a original story but this film is great for the subtle science to discover, without pity, compassion or masks a real slice of existence.The love for an Achim or the desire for be normal in a homophobic society are not only artistic themes and the message of film is, in fact, to be a model to self definition, a subject to meditation, a point to search of truth against others, against yourself.Only, the commercial happy-end. The shadows are not a so short life. But, the intentions , the honesty of work, the game with lights and the good interpretation are more important.

This film immediately vaulted itself into the very top of my favorite gay-themed movies list after only one viewing. It's simply terrific, offering humor and heartache in equal servings. The acting from all the characters is brilliant, and like other viewers, I particularly liked the subtle and sensitive performance of Marlon Kittel in the role of Leo, as well as Alicja Bachleda-Curus's performance as Anke. I wish that the U.S. had the depth or courage to produce films like this. It seems most of my favorite gay-themed movies are foreign films. Others have gone into all the plot points and developments, so I won't rehash them, but I will touch on one thing I loved, and a couple of other viewers noted it as well... There is a lengthy scene late in the movie (chapter 17 on the DVD to be exact) that, for nearly two dialog-free minutes, allows the camera to fade in and out of varying scenes, from the introspective despair of Achim, lying by his girlfriend and obviously hurting over the loss of his best friend Tobi, to a series of scenes of the lake and the land in a rainstorm. Each of these scenes has a single focal point, whether a ball floating on the lake or a ladder on the side of a dock... it's a stunning montage from a cinematography standpoint, and the whole scene is accompanied by an incredibly beautiful, haunting melody on a cello. It's perfect, and I could have easily watched this scene in rapt attention had it carried on for another couple of minutes.