L'Année du tigre

Sorry, but this is just preposterous and bizarre! "Tom" (Alexander Tsypilev) is routinely burgling a flat when he encounters the semi naked, sleeping, "Lars" (Julien Lickert). Not unsurprisingly, he becomes a bit obsessed and when this lecturer leaves his home to go to work, "Tom" easily lets himself in and rather creepily begins to sleep in his bed, wear his clothes - you get the gist! Anyway, "Lars" begins to suspect when his biscuits get eaten and his undies start to go awol until, eventually, he awakes to find an unwelcome visitor breathing over him. Up to this point, there is the vaguest hint of erotic menace. We know there is little physical danger, it's about an infatuation. Sadly, though, the last half hour is just beyond belief before a denouement that made me squirm. Had director Tor Iben stuck to his guns and made a drama about the addiction and dangers of obsession then this might have worked, but he didn't have the courage of his convictions and tempered the story to such a degree that the ending - some naked mud wrestling - just made me laugh (and not in a good way). It's a good idea for a screenplay, and you wouldn't kick Lickert out of bed for eating Pringles, but sadly this starts promisingly but falls away quickly. Moral of the film maybe - check that your door locks work?

Because of the nature of its homosexuality this film will be ignored, dismissed, misunderstood, and it will be immediately be put into a ghetto of film making. This film is a masterpiece. I will not give any spoilers other than to say that many men who are homosexual hide behind masks: masks to hide their nature from the still alienating heterosexual, and masks to assert their defense against those who would do them harm. Two men are the central characters here: the open homosexual who is a university professor, and a young and troubled youth (beautifully acted by Alexander Tsypilev). The youth literally has his masks. The teacher does not. In one brave sequence, the teacher speaks out against casual sex and the masks that go with that.

This is basically a simple story, but Tor Iben is a creative director and magically turns the Surreal in the film (like Bunuel before him) into stark realism. An audience bred on superficial films will be bewildered and will turn away. Fassbinder did this to his audiences with many of his films. and 'The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant' and 'Fox and His Friends' alienated many homosexuals, but Fassbinder had a heterosexual following that kept his films alive. Many of today's homosexual films like 'Theo and Hugo', 'Harvest' and 'God's Own Country' have a short life span, and I fear this film will too. I wonder how the brilliant 'Sauvage' will fare when it hits UK shores...

TLA have brought this out and, despite the ludicrous, unwarranted sexual warning on the cover, buy it. The lost art of Bunuel has returned, along with echoes of Japanese classics like 'Onibaba' (ritual is a great part of this film, and the Samurai is there as well along with Kurosawa).

But I am fast losing patience with those who want the simple, the normative and the non-confrontational.

It will be hard not to fall asleep watching this. Anyone who has ever watched a movie could see the "shocking" revelation a mile away. This is not surprising anymore.

And why do even get to know Tom's family if they bring nothing substantial to the table and there is no resolution (or mention of them) at the end?

It's not a movie to hate - but it does feel pretentious, especially during the student's preachy opinions during class. I guess it's not only in procedurals where characters take turn to say something complementary to what someone just said.

This film has been on my archive for quite some time now... I heard good things about it and that's why I have this film. Unfortunately it was so far from being good. It wasn't even average at times. There were so many unanswered questions about the characters, too many in fact. I don't want to list them all here but there is not a single answer given in the film about why the characters are the way they are.

Would I watch it again? Nope. Would I make my friends watch it? Absolutely not.

I'm kinnda laugh so much when i watch this film, this stalker guy he look not danger at all, and he wear a kitty mask when rob into sb house at midnight??? he not a psychopath or esle, he act normal except his fetish about mask that maybe it is a mertaphor about in and out the closet (or it just simple his fetish that he hardly can accept it, at the end this Lars guy talk about facing ours 'shadow', maybe that the only meaning of this film). Well, this is a really entertain movie, thriller but not killer, no bloody, music sound weird cause it make this film seem horror but it not at all. Btw the character super hot that they don't need to talk much to make me into this film.