Konsequenzen

I'm sure there are boneheaded, knuckle-dragging yobs in every country but it looks like Slovenia has more than its fair share of them. The actors playing the thugs were perfectly suited to their roles especially Matej Zemljic playing Andrej who we realise from the beginning is different from his amoral fellows even before he lands in the institution. He's not wicked per se, just lost in a sea of contradictions regarding his lower middle class origins, his sexuality, his running with a richer pack while having no money. He wants to fit in.

He is the same in the juvenile centre. He wants to be mates with the bad boys to the extent of surpassing them but we can see it's not really in him. And he gets infatuated with Zele, the leader of the guys.

The story follows Andrej's desperate wish to be a part of the gang and how this is manipulated by the sociopathic Zele. The group commits worse and worse crimes and assaults and the one who gets into trouble for absconding is always Andrej.

Zele wields his sexuality like an axe to ensnare Andrej but in a couple of scenes he looks as though he cares, but the portcullis comes crashing down again. The final disillusion leads to the shocking events of the final scenes. The ending is as perfect as it could possibly have been with Andrey contemplating his future after burning his bridges with his colleagues and, indeed, society.

I didn't look at the clock once during the film. The casting and dialogue were perfect, the length was just right. A definite "must see".

I saw it as a film about parenthood and the lost of connections between family members. In same measure , as the fall of the prestige of teachers. Not the less, as realistic portrait of a teenager life, reduced as a sort of deep loneliness by parents,social system , society. Two details are real significant for me- the refuge in the yard of kinder garden and the return of money to the Gipsy family. Short, a heardbreaker film about deep loneliness.

This is a bleak movie. I don't know why I didn't realise that when I saw the title. I thought it was gonna be like a gay drama, it's not!

It takes risks that are very tricky to pull off and I'm not 100% sure it does. Making the majority of the leads horrible people is tough, it makes you unable to root for them. They try and counter act this with our main lead but I think they needed to develop him a little bit more at the start, this would have endeared us to him a little more.

The end is quite a gut punch tho and it does kinda frame the movie a little bit different for me. It's just such a helpless and dark movie. Super super depressing but definitely watchable.

The movie was OK to watch, there were things that just passed and could have been deeper, or simply less superficial. What about emotions, what about showing contemplation, what about providing some small additions to give the characters more character?

About the protagonist and supporting actors, I have to say, I never really was convinced about the role he took upon himself. I also did not feel a gay vibe and wasn't convinced there was true homosexual attraction. The movie might have just been about men experimenting as I did not feel a genuine engaging spark between those interacting. The move is superficial in so many ways, you can easily fall asleep. This is a television movie.

The movie portrays the severe and brutal reality of the still very present mindset in the Balkans, which includes toxic masculinity, delinquency, drug-abuse and homophobia, and which can have especially dark consequences for LGBTQ+ youth in these countries. Heartbreaking, heavy and at times very hard to watch, but unfortunately a story which is real life for many young adults.