Tempestade de Verão

today "sommersturm" is coming out on DVD in Germany, i already ordered it on amazon.de and have been in cinema two times. the movie is about a 18year-old boy who begins to feel for his best friend, who is already having a relationship to a girl. they are all in a boat team and go for a championship (the filming locations are in my town so its cool to see). in the camp the feelings of the actors are "coming out". before seeing it i could not imagine that this movie would feel so real an touch so much. but it is the working of the great actors, a beautiful soundtrack, very good camera and s strong story. the camera work supports the story in so many ways, the picture you see tells so much. but the movie is not only touching, its also extremely funny, but not in the way that its make fun of gay people, its understanding so its still touching. i cant wait to see this movie again. sad that only a few saw it, believe me, its one of the funniest, most touching and best filmed German movies. nothing else than 10/10

Sommersturm (Summer Storm) is about Tobi and Achim who have been best friends for years. As cox and oarsman, they have helped their team win several rowing cups in the past and are now looking forward to the big regatta in the countryside. But this trip is no summer camp, and the problems soon arise. As Achim's relationship with his girlfriend grows more serious, Tobi starts to realise that his feelings for Achim run deeper than he's willing to admit to himself. He feels confused, unsure of himself and increasingly left out. When the much-anticipated Berlin girls' team is being replaced by a team of athletic,young gay men, Tobi and his teammates are suddenly forced to grapple with their prejudices, fears and perhaps their hidden longings. As the tension grows, Tobi, Achim and the others head towards a confrontation as fierce and ultimately as liberating as the summer storm gathering over the lake...

"Summer Storm" is an emotionally mature and honest film which deals with the issue of coming out with humour, sensitivity and understanding. The performances are excellent, with the actors and actresses tending to underplay emotions rather than hamfisting them home, which tends to happen in American teen dramas. The performance by the award winning Robert Stadlober (Best Leading Actor at the Montreal Film Festival, 2001) was particularly standout. All characters are identifiable and likable, and although some characters verge on the cliché, clichés are clichés because they originated in truth.

Director, Marco Kreuzpaintner and cinematographer Daniel Gottschalk make the landscape lush, tranquil, yet with a strong sense of isolation, loneliness and foreboding. Visual metaphors are seamlessly woven into the films narrative without becoming too cliché or distracting.

The film is un-hyperbolic in its treatment of the familiar themes of coming of age, the search for identity, friendship and sexuality (both homosexuality and heterosexuality). Sommersturm is a beautiful, moving and honest film.

Two best friends go on a summer-camp. One of them, Tobi is in love with his friend and cannot stand him having a girlfriend. When a gay rowing-team arrives, the storm begins...

The movie is very touching, but a bit predictable. It does succeed in showing all the factors that come in to play, when someone 'comes out'. Moreover, the characters are mostly very likable.

It's a good movie that shows you gay boys, straight boys and girls, the prejudices about gayness, and just a feel good movie in the end. A must for young people and their parents as an educational movie.

p.s. The curly boy was nice as well.

Strange film grace of his original beauty. The essence is self-discover of a teenager but, not his obsessive love for his friend, the ambiguity of feelings, the moral end or the fight with himself, the contact with the "others" are important . The essence is the splendid art to tell, in honest way, with delicate images and ordinary scenes the evolution of a crisis, the gestures of a age, the love as miracle, the fixation and desire of an outsider for who his self-image and the opinion of friends is the fundamental punishment.

To be yourself like horrible sin.

It is not a original story but this film is great for the subtle science to discover, without pity, compassion or masks a real slice of existence.

The love for an Achim or the desire for be normal in a homophobic society are not only artistic themes and the message of film is, in fact, to be a model to self definition, a subject to meditation, a point to search of truth against others, against yourself.

Only, the commercial happy-end. The shadows are not a so short life. But, the intentions , the honesty of work, the game with lights and the good interpretation are more important.

Summer Storm is a remarkably sensitive and entertaining film, a drama about sexual orientation with stellar acting, plenty of comic relief, and the touching moments that make this movie worth a second or third visit. Within minutes, I was captivated by the main characters, reliving my own doubts in those beautiful days between high school and reality.

Those looking for an erotic homosexual expose of yet another ''coming out'' will probably be disappointed. The interaction of the sexes is both subtle and natural, damn normal, as it should be. Few films let you forget your own sexual orientation and draw you into the scene through the sheer power of love and affection. The tears, joys and pain of youth are vividly painted on a backdrop of beautifully photographed scenes that are both authentically modern and nostalgically overpowering. These are the friends you want to meet on your next canoe trip or wished you had met at summer camp 40 years ago.

Summer Storm is perhaps the best German film in decades, a quiet film that steals your heart. American audiences have had to wait a bit longer to finally see it. In Germany, the film was rated PG-12. The US version is rated R. That says something about the progress (or lack of) in dealing with films that address sexuality. US audiences can deal with ''Sex and the City'' and ''Six Feet Under'' but don't dare let our kids see a movie that might help them find their sexual identity. Personally, I can't think of a better film as an introduction to sex education, in grade school. I highly recommend watching the film with your teen-aged son or daughter. They can explain the parts you didn't quite catch.