Sommersturm

Two best friends go on a summer-camp. One of them, Tobi is in love with his friend and cannot stand him having a girlfriend. When a gay rowing-team arrives, the storm begins...

The movie is very touching, but a bit predictable. It does succeed in showing all the factors that come in to play, when someone 'comes out'. Moreover, the characters are mostly very likable.

It's a good movie that shows you gay boys, straight boys and girls, the prejudices about gayness, and just a feel good movie in the end. A must for young people and their parents as an educational movie.

p.s. The curly boy was nice as well.

Tobi, a teenager in a rowing team, is about to discover his latent homosexuality and his love for his close friend Achim, during a rowing contest, under the catalytic presence of a gay rowing group from Berlin.

Although the film borrows many plot elements from movies like "Was nutzt die Liebe in Gedanken" and "Krampack" (i.e. boy loves boy who loves girls) it copes with creating an exceptional coming-out film composition. The admixtures of German eastern and southern dialects and accents, the comic characters like the coach, the simple humorous stereotypes resulting from clueless-Oberbayern meeting Gay-Berlin and finally the summer storm of sexual consciousness forcing Tobi and the groups of teenagers to seek new balances, create a unique and simple German version of these topics.

As remarks could be mentioned that too much of accents is not as funny for us foreigners, the end is relatively open and the main character depicts sometimes too selfish and ignorant.

Film is Excellent - 10 of 10.

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.

Summer Storm is a remarkably sensitive and entertaining film, a drama about sexual orientation with stellar acting, plenty of comic relief, and the touching moments that make this movie worth a second or third visit. Within minutes, I was captivated by the main characters, reliving my own doubts in those beautiful days between high school and reality.

Those looking for an erotic homosexual expose of yet another ''coming out'' will probably be disappointed. The interaction of the sexes is both subtle and natural, damn normal, as it should be. Few films let you forget your own sexual orientation and draw you into the scene through the sheer power of love and affection. The tears, joys and pain of youth are vividly painted on a backdrop of beautifully photographed scenes that are both authentically modern and nostalgically overpowering. These are the friends you want to meet on your next canoe trip or wished you had met at summer camp 40 years ago.

Summer Storm is perhaps the best German film in decades, a quiet film that steals your heart. American audiences have had to wait a bit longer to finally see it. In Germany, the film was rated PG-12. The US version is rated R. That says something about the progress (or lack of) in dealing with films that address sexuality. US audiences can deal with ''Sex and the City'' and ''Six Feet Under'' but don't dare let our kids see a movie that might help them find their sexual identity. Personally, I can't think of a better film as an introduction to sex education, in grade school. I highly recommend watching the film with your teen-aged son or daughter. They can explain the parts you didn't quite catch.

today "sommersturm" is coming out on DVD in Germany, i already ordered it on amazon.de and have been in cinema two times. the movie is about a 18year-old boy who begins to feel for his best friend, who is already having a relationship to a girl. they are all in a boat team and go for a championship (the filming locations are in my town so its cool to see). in the camp the feelings of the actors are "coming out". before seeing it i could not imagine that this movie would feel so real an touch so much. but it is the working of the great actors, a beautiful soundtrack, very good camera and s strong story. the camera work supports the story in so many ways, the picture you see tells so much. but the movie is not only touching, its also extremely funny, but not in the way that its make fun of gay people, its understanding so its still touching. i cant wait to see this movie again. sad that only a few saw it, believe me, its one of the funniest, most touching and best filmed German movies. nothing else than 10/10