Narednik

In just 20 minutes a lot of stories are told. Traumatic life from both sides. Once again showed decadence and posttraumatic problems caused by war. One night, 20 minutes...

Two men. A sex night. The morning after. The simplicity of story represents the first virtue of this short film. In fact, its beautiful crafted simplicity. The second,maybe the main, the suggestions. At first sigh, a sketch about bad memories, clash of two ages and experiences, deep and painfull loneliness and sex as pretext for have the other not only as company for a short time, the youth, its bitterness and deep pragmatism , the answers. At the first sigh, the contrast between the look of the two lead actors can be the key of story. In fact, the film is a sort of exorcism against recent past, like many films from East. The result remains powerful and cruel. But , far to be only another gay movie, it is a precious remind about human relations, about unspoken experiences, about forms of selfishness and illusion, about naked truth. Maybe, it says more to an Eastern European, from the dialogue in kitchen between seargent and young man to the dialogue of the last with his mother. Because the kitchen, obvious, in East, is more than the eating room. The bitterness is the fundamental note of this admirable short film. So, the story of a night and the morning after.

We need to make some assumptions here. To me, it seems certain that the ex-soldier is suffering from PTSD. And that it's probably untreated, making him dangerous to himself and others. As well, we can discount the rent boy's motivations about paying for a mortgage.

The actual sex is rough and nasty. The soldier wants a connection but isn't doing himself any favours here. After, he shows a more vulnerable side, as far as a thick carapace of hurt and being closeted will let him. Is the hustler interested? I'll leave that to future viewers to find out.

There's a coda to the rather shocking parting of the soldier and the gigolo. As a way of releasing our shock and tension of the previous minute, it's effective and necessary.

A film worth watching.