This one's a beautiful, tender, quiet romantic drama with a moody atmosphere, set in a tight knit Welsh fishing community. It's a touching story about a man waking up sexually in the middle of his life, and how he, his family, and everyone around him deal with it, which makes it emotional and sentimental without ever getting over the top. The slow burn plays out against a landscape that's as bleak as it is gorgeous, where quiet, closed off men are stuck inside rigid ideas of what masculinity should be. Some people might be reminded of "God's Own Country," but I think both films are lovely in their own way. Jack is a middle aged guy who co-owns a mussel farm with his rough around the edges brother Dyfan, and the tension between the two of them is simmering under the surface right from the start. Dyfan's three sons all help out with the work, while Jack's sulky teenage son Tom keeps skipping out. Jack's been with his wife since they were both 16, and...
Miku is 17 year old and just figuring and venturing out into sex and sexuality. His older brother Sebu talks him into throwing a party for his friends and also invite the girl whom Miku is very interested in. The house gets completely smashed and the parents come back angry and as a result Miku now has to spend the summer with them at their summer cottage in the country. Miku meets Elias, the boy next door, another 17 year old gay boy very comfortable in his sexuality. The two of them form an unlikely friendship and hang out with each other all the time. The friendship ultimately leads to physical sexual connect which neither of them thinks much of. For Miku, it is something he is coming to terms with but for Elias, we don’t know much. We find out that his sister is always high on drugs and their mother is in depression since their father left. The two boys decide that this ‘relationship’ that they have is just till summer and then they move on their respective paths. Miku eventually comes out to his brother and his parents who all take it very sportingly. Elias needs to deal with his own issues and Miku decides to take charge of his own life and will not let himself be thrown to the side so easily.
This film was a little bit of a mixed bag for me. At one end I did appreciate the realistic depiction of a young gay man’s sexual awakening, and the tender and erotic interactions of the two main characters, but on the other hand, it gets a little tedious to just witness the interactions between them and waiting for something to happen. I did like the fact that since Miku has just come out and had his first sexual experience with Elias, he would want to be clingy but his character showed immense maturity, when he himself suggests that why don’t they make this as their summer fling rather than anything serious. Both the boys have some sort of family dysfunctionality going on but the boys find happiness in the company of each other. I loved that. What I also loved was the character of Sebu, Miku’s brother. He barely had 2-3 scenes but in those scenes, it is amazing to see the love, warmth and care he shows for his younger brother. Sometimes the smallest of scenes make the most impact. When Miku comes out to his brother nad the phone abruptly disconnects, that leaves Miku confused and sad of his brother’s behaviour. And then he gets a “heart/love” message from his brother and his face just lits up. The acceptance from his brother meant a lot to him and that really short scene shows maturity on the director’s part.
Had the normal everyday escapades of 2 young teenagers and their interactions edited short, this film could have been a really cool film. The boys are good looking and talented and the country side is gorgeous. What’s missing is a tighter screenplay. Nevertheless, I still would rate the movie as above average and something that could be enjoyed on a lazy day. (6/10)
Comments
But it's still hard to understand the approach of their directors , at least to the accustomed of a gay themed ones. Both ' boys families are , to say an euphemism , misfits and almost umbeliable . But that's it .
I was a bit disappointing for the lack of "hot" scenes , considering how they are handsome . But Finland , for policals reason , is still under the influence of their eastern neighbors . May be next .Thanks allways for Your hard work .
All these events have actually happened to the members of the crew or people they know. Yup, the thrashed cottage after a teenagers' party, the sister stealing clothes and the stark naked walk back home - all that has been real at least once. This is what happens when you're forced to be in the half darkness and total darkness 9 months of the year and the only time of sunlight is the 12 weeks of summer when basically everyone goes onto carpe diem mode. The darkness makes Northern people drink (that means: to get drunk beyond oblivion) more, and sadly also more suicidal. So when we actually get a sunny summer, we... kinda... lose it :D And such parties are considered an adventure in Finland (and Elias asking "and where was my invitation?" after Miku describes the puke on the walls, the blood on the floor and the broken glass table, is very real indeed).
The second thing is the "summer fling". It cannot actually be translated as that, since in the English cultural space the summer fling is more like an unexpected love at first sight that can actually continue after the summer is over. In Finland it's a very special Finnish THING. Elias asks Miku, if he has a girlfriend, referring to her as "kesähoito" (summer pet). Nice of him, the adult men call that "kesäkissa" (summer kitty... OK, what the heck, I can be candid here, right? summer pussy). In Finland it has been a long unofficial tradition that men earn enough to enable their wives stay home and concentrate on raising their children. So when the school is over the wives pack up their stuff and children and head to the country - summer cottages, grandparents' farms, wherever. And they stay there until it's time for the children to go back to school again.
Meanwhile in the towns the men keep on working.... but they get themselves the summer kitties and have some fun, too. They start looking for those girls on Walpurgnight (the bonfire and wild party night before the 1st of May), that leaves about one month for grooming the girls... and when the wives and children are off, the fun starts. It's a special kind of relationship, where a lot happens. Since the end date of the relationship is already written in the calendar (both the men and summer kitties know it), there's no postponing, no petty fighting - it's the full carpe diem, let's do, let's go, let's party, let's make memories! And when the 16th of August comes, they part as friends, having had a summer full of happiness and memorable events. The wives? Yes, they know, too. They've seen their fathers having summer kitties and probably been a summer kitty themselves. And they won't nag about it, because they also know it won't last into the autumn or winter.
And the fact that the mother is so convinced that the father is gay - that's also a very Northern thing. VERY Northern thing. You see, we do not talk here, especially about emotions and among family members. We'd rather go to our friends and have them fill our head with all sorts of doubts and crap :D So the situation with the "whose gay porn is filling the hard drive" is also very believable to me. And the dialogue between Miku's mother and father also gives a hint of how deep the homophobia still is inside the people of that generation - if a man is into gardening and goes to the gym often, he must be gay, right?
Overall the team has managed to capture a piece of a very Finnish summer.
P.S! The mother throwing away the son's phone is the ultimate punishment there can be :D The children here are total smartphone addicts and consider being without a phone (or having some ancient phone, like Nokia 1100) being not just dead, but more extinct than dinosaurs. Hope this long rambling of mine managed to bring some light into the story of this film, so it makes more sense now. Greetings from Estonia!
PS: Talinn is the only place I have visited in Estonia a few years back and absolutely loved it.
I've noticed in the comments of Scandinavian films that people are kinda shocked about the heavy drinking that's going on there. Like - teenagers drinking whiskey and vodka straight from the bottle. Yup, while for example in the Mediterranean region the alcohol always accompanies food and getting drunk is considered not a very proper behaviour, in Scandi getting drunk is the actual goal. That's the too long Grand Darkness of autumn, winter and half the spring that really messes with people's brains here. Heavy sh*t.
About "Screwed" - I also LOVE the Northern sarcasm they have used in some of the lines. Like:
Elias: Let's go fishing!
Miku: Now?
Elias: No, the day after tomorrow.
or
Elias: Have you seen my socks?
Miku: Father's closet is over there, you can take some of his.
Elias: Is your father also in that closet?
Really a good piece of work, that film. Seriously. I'll have to save it for the Grand Darkness to keep my sanity intact, since I don't drink alcohol :D