Silent Youth

its basic virtue is fragility.fragility of emotions, gestures and words. the essential virtue is the tension translation of the relationship. result - a kind of poem about solitude and need of the other. it can be a gay story. but not at whole. it can be reflection of society. but not it seems be the purpose. story of a meeting, with universal connotations, it is a common story and different is only science to present, very careful, the ladder of the feelings and gestures. a remarkable movie and a must see for the viewer who need discover and preserve the poetry of life. a love story. and, of course, a silent story. maybe , because, in this case, the seed of silence are the delicacy of words. good actors, remarkable script, first for its charming simplicity. not extraordinary, maybe, but honest in a touching manner.

This is described by the synopsis as two young men in Berlin who think they are never going to meet that 'special one', suddenly brushing hands on the street and then finding that love can blossom in the strangest of places. One is Marlo who has just moved in with a girlfriend who does not know he is gay. The other is Kirill who has just returned from a less than successful visit to Moscow – and has some issues.

This starts off very well but then it becomes clear pretty fast that Kirill has behavioural and or mental health issues and Marlo – to his credit – bears with it. I think this is supposed to be about finding love despite the differences and the fragile nature that some of us become. However, there were so many long drawn out shots where very little happens. This includes walking, sitting, eating or just doing bugger all really. I just wanted something to happen. There are no bedroom 'goings on' here either – in case you were wondering. I have seen more action in a detergent commercial to be honest.

Also this is only 73 minutes in length and did feel longer. I appreciate a 'lyrical' delivery of a story but there has to be some 'poetry' to keep it afloat and I felt that too was lacking. There was a German film out a few years ago called 'Harvest' and I felt that too was lacking, but a lot of people really liked it. If you found that one good then you may well find something here too; if however you preferred German offerings like 'Freefall', 'Balls', or even the excellent 'Sumerstorm', then this will probably not be for you.

Seemed kinda interesting and arty to begin with but it gets a bit boring in the second half, as the other reviews note. Then one of the characters' story and personality gets weirder and the interest picks up a bit towards the end.

I found this movie to be hypnotic and strangely poetic. It's billed as a "coming out" story, or a gay "teen love" story, and it's definitely each of those things, in its own way, but as some descriptions have put it, the movie is actually about awkwardness, alienation, yearning, and ultimately, connection. There is very little action in this film, and even less dialogue. Most of the story is told by implication and through long periods of silence. Many may find this to be frustrating, and I can understand why. This isn't a movie that sets up a premise and then goes through the standard motions of reaching it's conclusion. Like a poem, everything is compressed into a kind of minimalist quality. If you go into this without any expectations, I suspect you'll be pleasantly surprised by the actual underlying story this movie tells. This isn't a standard presentation of a standard story, and I found myself amazed at the tenderness and vulnerability expressed by the two characters in the most unexpected, off-kilter ways. I give this 8 out of 10 stars, as the movie achieves what it sets out to do with a kind of austere, almost detached grace that won't work for every member of the audience.

One criteria for an enjoyable movie is LIKABLE characters, of which this flick has ONE. Additonally, something must happen between the principal characters to interest the viewer, which doesn't transpire here. It's about as interesting as Andy Warhol's "Sleep!"