Sauna (Danish)

I have mixed feelings about this film. My problem is that the more I see films that likely made their debut in international film circuits, the more I am realizing that these art house or "different" film makers end up going so different in treatment of their subject that sometimes it fails to connect at various levels. This film seems more concerned with shock value than telling a compelling story.

Johan is an openly gay man working at Copenhagen’s only gay sauna. When he’s not pursuing the sauna’s clientele, he’s hooking up and having one night stands with random men at the bars. One night of browsing Grindr leads to Johan meeting William, a trans man, at his home. But Johan is so sexually motivated that he doesn’t even realize that William is trans until they begin having sex, which leads to an awkward uncertainty. Nevertheless, Johan finds something exciting about William and pursues him. They start seeing each other and a casual romance evolves. When Johan takes William to sauna, William is thrown out since the establishment is for 'men' only. Despite this, we see that Johan is fully committed to being with William (is it because of loneliness or something else, we don't know). But he goes too far when he steals money from the sauna to help William with money for transition, he is fired from job and also has to leave his apartment. He lies that he quit his job to be with William. But William's world is something Johan doesn't completely understand. They both try to evolve while pursuing their love, but sadly all Johan wants to be is with William, whereas, William also needs time and space and his other trans friends to continue his transition journey and Johan often feels neglected in that aspect. Eventually William can't take anymore and they both break up.

We see a little bit about Johan on how he is trying to make friends, yet he’s closed himself off to deeper connections beyond how deep he might go in the sauna. HIs friend tells him that he is never gonna make friends on Grindr. IN fact, his older roommate also looks out for Johan. But it's William who brings in the tenderness and companionship that he has been missing. We see Johan is numerous sex scenes but somehow as a character, the depth is missing. At a time when transphobia is thriving even within the LGBTQ+ community, it is refreshing to see love between a cis man and a trans man. There is a dialogue where William says, people don't understand how I can be trans and gay at the same time. Sometimes, even I don't understand but at least I am open to trying to understand. The intimate scenes are sensual and passionate, but also awkward and clumsy at points. The chemistry between the two leads feels grounded in something real, whether they’re tentatively exploring each other’s worlds or blowing up their joint world through outbursts, and even worse, indifference. The uncertainty causes rifts between William and Johan, either from Johan’s misunderstanding of the seriousness of William’s situation, or from Johan’s aggressive tactics to help. But even then, there’s little doubt that their relationship won’t survive. The actors do a great job of portraying what they have been asked of, but it still feels like something is missing. There are a lot of quiet moments, which, after a while started to get a bit boring to me. The film feels more of a reflection of Johan's somewhat repetitive spiral of destructive behavior. (5.5/10)