Un verano inolvidable

Whoever called this a "fetish" film missed the point. Two old friends get together for a road trip. And they do what men do, that is, engage in casual nudity, and one of them isn't shy about bodily functions. That much is obvious. What is less obvious at first, but becomes increasingly so, is the attraction they feel for each other. This attraction becomes more obvious when they are joined by a Polish hitchhiker, and the two men show, in various ways, their jealousy when the other man becomes too attentive to Boris. You have to watch this movie a couple or three times to catch all the subtexts. The film offers a lot more than the normal viewer might catch on a first viewing.

If you watch this movie with certain expectations, you are going to be disappointed. Which, I think, is why so many of the reviews here are so polarized. You won't find the meaning of life in this movie. You won't find gay themed cliches or tropes. You won't find pretty boys strutting around. You won't find Hollywood-style "spell everything out for the dumb audience" directing. You won't find "the big steamy sex scene". But nor will you find the movie being coy about (European) attitudes to nudity and sex (something which clearly confuses several of the other reviewers here).

Instead, you will find, essentially, a movie about the way people muddle through the conflicting chemistry of friendships and relationships. These are not titanic conflicts, causing huge explosions or overly-dramatic scenes. They are the inner puzzles we have to solve as we grope through life. What DO I feel about someone? What DO they really feel about me?

The reactions of the three principal (well, only) characters are played out against a road trip background -- not a particularly new idea, but the director lets things unfold in a paced manner, just as they do in real life. Things are NOT spelled out here; the clues are all there, but the director (wisely) leaves the viewer to fill in the holes. This leaves us to puzzle out things from these imprecise clues in the same way the characters are puzzling out their lives.

The actors mostly do a good job, the Jonas character for me being the most filled out and well acted. Jonas (a photographer) is clearly using his camera as both a shield and a way to probe the feelings of his companions, but the director wisely refrains from over-doing this (to the point, I suspect, where some reviewers didn't even notice this). Philip is more direct, and apparently more shallow. Boris is in many ways the most ambiguous.

The movie is of course not perfect, and a few scenes didn't quite click for me, but overall the development was perfectly believable, and gently touching, though ultimately sad for at least one of the trio.

I said that this movie is about chemistry, and ultimately I think the movie is best understood in terms of a catalyst .. an apt term (check on Google if you're not sure of the precise definition), though what that catalyst is I shall leave you to find as you watch it.

The movie is simple, but that is the magic of it, it doesn't seem to make any mistakes, you have to be in a mood to watch something that isn't an action movie, and isn't a drama with tons of drama up front. But that is why I liked it. The actors were all perfect in every scene, and even the dialogue, translated to English, seems perfect as well. Every scene that could have been cheesy, or predictable, or just plain trite, was instead very well done and seemed more real than what you would expect. There are long scenes where the actor has to stay in character for a long time before it is over, and that must have been difficult, each actor is very talented and they make the movie, of course. I didn't see any weak spots, but the movie is definitely lighthearted and tame and you feel like you're on vacation with them having fun, goofing off, until halfway through, it accelerates and becomes more serious and problems start to appear for the characters, but it all works really well. I wouldn't change anything about this movie and I would definitely watch it again, especially if I needed a movie that feels good but also feels very realistic and the performances seem real too.

In trying to be subtle and leave open ended questions for the viewer, the film ends up lacking a lot of depth into the emotions of the main characters. It is true that it leaves a certain vagueness that is akin to semi platonic relationships between straight and lgbtq persons.

Not great ...but quite good. This film is a bit slow at times and not much happens for good part of the movie. But it is very well produced/structured; the scenery is beautiful and acting is top-notch!!

This film rings "true" on many levels and things develop naturally. Sadly, with three people; one will ultimately be left out! Life is hash.

I started this months ago and could not finish it. Re-watched it again and was pleasantly surprised how it developed in the end. I enjoyed this quite a bit.