Summer Storm

"Summer Storm" is a very well written German production about the lives of several teens involved in a rowing competition. Tobi, the crew captain of his team, struggles with the deep love he has long felt for his best friend Achim. He fears their friendship will be forever changed as new love blossoms in Achim's life, and can't imagine life without his constant companionship. Achim on the other hand is naive and oblivious to Tobi's feelings for him, although Tobi has tried to show him in many ways. He has vowed that nothing will ever come between their friendship, but will he still feel the same when the truth of Tobi's heart is revealed?The team is sent to summer training camp, where they are pitted against an all-gay team of rowers. They are all forced to face their desires, jealousy, fears, pride, hidden longings and prejudice as bad weather and tough competition ensues, in and out of the water. Tobi's feelings are intensified as Achim and his girlfriend Sandra fall deeply in love and move on to the kind of physical relationship Tobi has so longed for with Achim. As he sees the openly gay team members express their desires without difficulty, the storm inside of him begins to rage.The lead actors, Robert Stadlober (Tobi), and Kostja Ullmann (Achim) give flawless performances in their roles. Ullmanns character goes from humor, sweetness and sensativity, to anger, hurt and hatred without so much as flinching. Stadlober's performance is shining as he runs the gamet of emotion that is typical for a teen faced with the various storms of tender youth and self discovery. The casting of this film, in my opinion, was superb, without exception.The real star of this story for me, was the character of "Leo", played by an unnamed actor. A quiet, self assured member of the "queerstrokes", Leo quickly relates to Tobi's secret struggle and is instantly drawn to him to offer support, tender affection and unconditional love. While he secretly falls in love with Tobi, he gently pushes him to self acceptance, to help him come to terms with his love for Achim and the reality he must face. The young actor who played this part, was without doubt, one of the best I've seen. He "becomes" the character he portrays, and acts with such smoothness and realism. His eyes and expression of tender emotion make it appear that he and his character are "one".Each viewers personal feelings are well represented by at least one particular character. As you find the one you most relate to, you are sure to fall in love with at least one of them. If you like films like "Beautiful Thing", you are gonna love "Summer Storm". Sound and video quality are excellent, the storm sequences are realistic and all filmed on location in a beautiful setting to make this production top notch all the way.The downside to this film is without doubt, the subtitles. Any film with subtitles makes it more difficult to follow, especially when the dialogue moves along quickly. It IS however a German film, with a german speaking cast, therefore the language is of course the same. So if you speak english, you will get nothing from the film WITHOUT the subtitles. It is however a film worth putting up with subtitles to view. If english speaking filmmakers would produce more films of this quality, we would not have to look to foreign films for what "Summer Storm" offers it's viewers, with the english translation.As stated on the DVD cover, with a quote from Jan Stuart of Newsday, "They don't come any sweeter or more appealing than this". I give this film a definate two thumbs (and a couple big toes) UP!

(.....just listen to the breathing........)Cute......caring......and collected (at one with himself), the "out" and self-accepting 'Leo' (a wondrous Marlon Kittel) so knows who he is and so knows where 'Tobi' (an amazingly expressive Robert Stadlober) is coming from. Tobi is so......lucky to have Leo for his "first-time." And speaking of that time in most all our lives, this film gives us a "my-first-time" gay love scene which tops all others in the lengths to which it goes......at least in a movie with such youthful characters. It's tender and caring at the same time it's feverish and arousing. Just listen to the breathing......if you think there can be any intensity and turn-on missing from what Kittel and Stadlober bring to us in their dock-side love making scene, you'd have to be deaf, as well as blind. Again, just listen to the breathing......to the sounds of "catching breaths and sighs" (or TURN UP your system, will ya!). Would you say these guys were caught up in what they were doing, or not? While the film's main relationship, between Tobi and Achim, has probably been a life-long one of fun and childhood loving/caring for one another, we watch as things begin to go terribly wrong when "another kind of love" starts rearing up, as part of this pair's growing up. We come to see that a straight Achim is too free and easy (with his feelings) to be just a friend to someone who's now discovering he is gay and in love. Achim, of course, is not be blamed for being who he's been all along; it's just that so much of who he is becomes misinterpreted by Tobi.I like this movie for its credible acting so much I'd award it an easy 6-Stars.PS--If anything at all disappointed in this work, it was the director's failure to give us, at film's end, a "boarding-the-bus-home" scene in which Leo and Tobi could say their goodbyes. It's inconceivable to me that Leo, so deeply affectionate of Tobi, would fail to take the time to do so. Obviously, we can expect little to come of their relationship, since a seemingly younger Tobi has a goodly amount of growing up and finding himself yet to do. However, I think of T. as being very aware of what he owes to Leo's help in making him much more comfortable with who he is. He just wouldn't have departed without a thank-you to Leo....something that would have been important for us to see.PPS--Director Marco Kreuzpaintner sure gets the "teen angst" thing right, pulling an awful lot of it out of his young cast. But, then, at 25 or so when shooting, he's only about 5 years older than they. Looking at his bio-pics elsewhere on-line, it's easy to see how he, himself, could have handily assumed one of these attractive young player's roles.****

Ok

Two teenagers are best friends and champion rowers. One of them falls in love with a girl, while the other realizes he feels more than a mere friendship towards him. This is an excellent German movie about growth, trust and tolerance among youth. It should be used as teaching tool to encourage youth in acceptance of human diversity, such needed value to fight bullying and hatred.

Da ich diesen Film auf Deutsch besonders mag und diesen meinen, nicht deutschkundigen, Freunden unbedingt zeigen will. Und den ich immer wieder gerne ansehe

Mi piace molto Sono contente I like it J'aime bien Sehr guter Verkaüfer Très bon vendeur Very good seller Buon venditore

Tobi et Achim sont les meilleurs amis du monde. C'est un lien fusionnel, surtout pour Tobi qui n'assume pas encore vraiment son homosexualité mais qui est amoureux de son ami. Il en devient même jaloux parce que Achim a une petite amie. Tous les 2 pratiquent l'aviron dans un petit club mixte bavarois, et garçons et filles partent en camping d'entraînement avec d'autres d'autres équipes d'Allemagne. Les garçons de l'équipe se réjouissent de voir l'équipe féminine berlinoise mais c'est une équipe gay qui a pris leur place.On revit à travers ce film tous les questionnements de la fin de l'adolescence : l'amour, le sexe, le futur et surtout sa place parmi les autres. C'est bien rendu avec du charme, de la tendresse (mais pas que), de l'humour. Bref, un savant mélange d'enthousiasme et de retenue qui fait de cette œuvre un très beau film.

It's rare for me to give five stars to a movie, but this one merits the Full Monty in my opinion. With cute lads and good acting, it's a feel-good movie with a well-meaning message. Sure, it has the usual clichés that coming-of-age gay movies have, but these are couched within a story well-told. There's a good soundtrack too.Tobi and Achim are best friends, both in and out of their local rowing team. Achim's in love with Sandra, but Tobi's in love with Achim. Sandra senses this when she tells Tobi, "You and Achim are like Siamese twins and I'm a witch coming between you." Tobi and Achim are close enough to indulge in sessions of mutual masturbation, but anything more is crossing the line for Achim. Tobi admonishes Achim as the latter storms off, "Jerking off in the boathouse is OK, but a little kiss is a disaster?"More raunchy than the film `Beautiful Thing' but just as funny and just as poignant. I was moved when Tobi tells Anke, his supposed girlfriend, that he does not love her but loves Achim instead. But Tobi finds solace in the arms of Niels who advises him well that "If you hide your whole life, you'll forget who you are." Niels then proceeds to peel off Tobi's sunburned skin, as if symbolically bringing to light the real Tobi within.The extras include a three-minute introduction in English by the young director, Marco Kreuzpaintner. He tells us that the film is based on his own experience of coming out. The film experienced good success in Germany, where the actor who plays Tobi (Robert Stadlober) was already a successful star. He is not gay, but admitted to the press that he had had gay experiences.The disc also includes an eight-minute interview in English with the actor who plays Achim (Kostja Ullmann), whose sultry dark looks has understandably led to him gaining a large gay following!