Sascha

Though the fresh and quirky coming of age dramedy of Sasha bites off a little more than it can chew, it swallows down the most part without indigestion.

Sasha follows the 19 year old title character, as his life in Cologne hits a critical intersection. Being the son of humble migrant Montenegrins, Sasha is regularly reminded of the sacrifices his parents made for his classical piano training, with a lot riding on an audition for a prestigious music academy. Meanwhile, he is madly in love with his piano teacher, but due to his father's bigoted attitude towards homosexuality, attempts to conceal his true sexual orientation from his family. Mixing teenage angst, hormonal lust and prejudice, things heat up in the pressure cooker of Sasha's life, and with subversive plotting, things boil in unexpected ways.

What makes Sasha such a charming film is the enigmatic lead performance from newcomer Sascha Kekez, who balances teenage awkwardness and charisma with ease. This could easily have been an irritatingly self- conscious performance, but Kekez grounds the film with his natural demeanour. Also worth a mention is the effective use of his malleable face. He moves effortlessly from imploding chin (not since Toby Maguire in Spiderman have I seen so many layers) to stud, with apparent ease. But performances are tops all round. Yvonne Yung Hee as his pseudo girlfriend, Jiao, is beautiful and strong, and though Sasha's father, played by Predrag Bjelac (Karkaroff in Goblet of Fire, to us Potter nerds) overdoes the comedic scenes, he handles the drama well. With the slightest eye movement, he is able to communicate pathos, and deliver the film's most powerful moments.

What I particularly responded to in Sasha was the compassion the filmmakers showed for all of the characters, embracing them warts and all. It would have been easy to demonise Sasha's father, but he is completely humanised as we understand his sacrifice. The film doesn't condone his prejudices either, showing that parental love can be a complex notion.

To be critical, Sasha does have a tendency to become farcical, throwing off the dramady balance, but manages to keep at least one foot grounded in reality. The visuals are clean and stylish, shot on location in Cologne, and though there are a few moments when yellows dominate the colour pallet (almost becoming monochromatic) this does not detract from the drama. There are also some brilliant visual gags, in particular Sasha's failed attempts at slamming doors.

Sasha is really a film about acceptance, sexual frustration, the generation gap, and the destructive nature of bigotry, and whilst it doesn't hit the emotional jugular it aims for, this is uplifting cinema with something worthwhile to say.

This film portrays a boy becoming a man and breaching out of the closet, whilst being torn between two (or more?) cultures.

In a way Sasha is very stereotypical: The more sensitive, more educated, more artistic gay guy in a rough, ignorant, stupid and very heterosexual environment. I guess the story has been told thousands of times. Yet this is a very nice version of it. The director catches very nicely a sense of lightness; even though this film hasn't a typical happy end. It's also quite nice to see a film about a group of immigrants that haven't been in many films yet.

The actor portraying Sacha sometimes overacts a bit in my opinion, but he does manage to get you involved in his character. I was particularly struck by the acting of the mother, that seemed quite intense to me. The piano teacher is brilliantly cast as a self confident gay guy to fall in love with.

There is artistic use of colour and lightning that paints the atmosphere in the cold German city. It's nice but maybe a bit too much.

There's no explicit nudity and sex, and quite little violence in this film. I think that there's also no need for that to tell the story. In this way the film is suitable for all audiences, which is I think what it should be.

This is basically a dime-a-dozen coming-out story with all the usual ingredients: young and troubled teen in a traditional and gay-unfriendly surrounding desperately tries to hide his gay feelings, but in the course of the movie is forced by all kinds of circumstances to re-evaluate his life.

Unfortunately no-one in this movie is really sympathetic, so it's hard to team up with any of them, even with Sasha himself who evidently is the one that are heart should go out to. He's rather a drama-queen, he's unnecessary harsh to his little brother and blind to the feelings of his girlfriend. Sure, he has the excuse of being young and troubled, but still. The father is a terrible despotic bully, the mother is some sort of tyrant as well, in the way she forces Sasha to study the piano, and bff Jiao is more cranky than supportive. The climax of the movie comes a bit out of the blue and is over-dramatic, but the final reconciliation between father and son is poignantly pictured.

The actors playing the parents do a fine job, but the other characters (including Sasha) are played barely adequate. And to my regret the beautiful city of Cologne stays rather underexposed, we see mainly grey streets, a shabby bar and the worn-out family apartment.

All in all a bit of a disappointment, I've seen many other coming-out movies that moved me a lot more than this one. Maybe it's also the lack of any moral, catharsis or even some sort of satisfying ending: one wonders what Sasha in the end has learned or how the recent experiences have changed his life, it all stays rather in the dark.

........or is that Shakespeare?

Here's my "Brief-Take" on this 2010 production from Germany:

-- Hiding under this movie's fairly tumultuous family tale is: "A not-much-screen-time, guy / guy love story." Strangely, it's a work quite similar to a 2002 Spanish / German production, "Food of Love." Both films involve a young concert pianist-in-training (Sasha / Paul) and his older, male concert piano performer / teacher. While there are "falling in love" similarities in these two movies, here are some DIFFERENCES---The older film's near-neurotic and more self-serving, clingy mother vs. this film's selflessly supportive....but sometimes pushy one. 2002's out of the picture father vs. Sasha's boorish, know it all example of what fatherhood should NOT be (despite an end of film attempt to transform this s---head of a man in our eyes). Oh, and thrown into the film mix for "Sasha" is a sometimes funny uncle and a sometimes supportive / sometimes jealously competitive younger brother. In other words, we're given a whole family of characters this viewer considers as receiving way too much screen time.....while being shown less of the title character trying to find his way in love and in life (Hey, this is a film titled "Sasha".....is it not?). To end this two film comparison, while "Food of Love" is a film shot in a much more technically accomplished manner, with characters occupying the opposite social class from those inhabiting our 2010 production, what it lacks, BIGTIME, is an actor with presence in the lead role.....one we can actually see Grow his character (Sasha's portrayer acts circles around his counterpart in the older film).

-- Despite any other negatives associated with the current production, know this: The actor (Sascha Kekez) portraying "Sasha" quickly and easily makes his way into our hearts......and we readily accept him. Unlike other aspects of the film, this young man easily deserves an 8-Star rating of his own (I predict a bright future).

-- Love scene-wise, we are given Hot--Hot kissing shots. Yet.....bed scene-wise, you'll see only above-the-briefs nudity and more of the Hot kissing (Lack of full body nudity seems strange, coming from these sexually open countries).

-- Color and lighting cinematography are sometimes a problem.....with overbright shots and a few near-monotone color scenes intruding on what is otherwise a fairly well camera-managed production.

-- Lastly.....and most importantly, your reviewer has this question to ask after watching the closing scene: What "Just out of the closet Newbie.....Canoeing on the local river and spotting a certain someone's 'interesting' Ex-partner (who, himself, keeps ogling).....Is going to very soon be revisiting the area's indoor swimming pool?" Readers, see this scene for yourself (there are enough of them involving just Sasha's activities to make this worth a rental).

-- Happy Trolling, Sasha!!

PS--Have fun, Viewers, with an initial scene set in a......Magazine Shop (that's right, you got it.....think 1996's "Beautiful Thing"). BUT....this shot's funnier!

****

Dennis Todorovic made quite a good film here, which I know will linger in the mind. It is not just another young man's coming out and facing his homosexuality scenario, but a film that is equally important about people who choose to live in another country than their own, and how they adjust. It is unusual as it concentrates on a family from Montenegro who go to Germany; Cologne to be precise. The father has very strict views on traditional values, the mother has a desire for her sons to advance in life, and Sasha is the one she is proud of who is in training to become a pianist. Sadly for him he is in love, or what he believes is love, with his teacher, as Gay as he is, but is not the faithful kind. End of spoilers. This may seem trite to some, but the film is so rich in details. For example how the family try to come to terms with such ' awful ' things as two men kissing, and also how part of the Gay scene in Cologne is portrayed back then in 2010. It is funny and it is sad, and my one big complaint on the copy I have is how almost unreadable the subtitles are and perhaps how much is lost in translation. And another thing in its favour is that no one is particularly glamourous, and how well the director has cast the film making the characters look like very ordinary people. No mean feat when quite a lot of coming out films are based on the inevitable shower scenes, and how the cast is often chosen for looks instead of acting ability. All of the cast are good on the acting scale, and I related to them with all their quirks, and their desperate needs to move on in life and to achieve the best they can in a dog eat dog world. It is not a great film, but it is a very good one and should have had more reviews here. Anyone who has not seen it yet ( and I had not ) should track down a copy and to concentrate on what is up there on the screen, and to concentrate on a very human film which has a lot to offer.