Venner for altid

Similar in theme to A Beautiful Thing, Wild Reeds, and Get Real in that all four of these films deal with the turmoil of a gay male teenager coming to terms with his (homo)sexuality.

This movie has a funny and campy ending.

Intrepid, prophetic, dramatic and amusing. This is a Scandinavian film treasure telling us a lot about the sexual discoveries, questions and insecurities, keeping the friendship as the most important matter. A free of taboos artwork offering an amazing view on the progressive, friendly and open Danish society of the 80s.

Definitely one of the best and pioneer movies about teens and homosexuality complemented with a gorgeous music background.

My first responsibility as a thoughtful movie reviewer is to let you know there are several superior, artfully crafted films dealing with youthful queerness. I am, of course, assuming that my readers enjoy watching well-made movies that deal either partially with or intensively with young Lesbians, queer boys, or bisexuals.

Here are just a handful of fine films I urge you to screen before you watch "Friends Forever": 1) "My First Summer" is the most Beautiful, artfully crafted film about the dawning of teenage Lesbianism ever made, period! There's even a little tasteful eroticism which surfaced between the two, courageous teenage actresses!

2) "Rifiki" is a great film about two teenage Kenyan girls who fall in love with each other & want to begin a sexual relationship. The problem? All homosexuality is illegal in Kenya! Sounds absurd, doesn't it? But the inane, antiquated law is still on the books! Should the girls possibly risk spending time in prison for consummating their relationship?

3) "Heartstone" is a Beautifully & frankly told story dealing with teenage gay-male experimentation, teenage Lesbian experimentation, the assertion of teenage heterosexuality, & one lad's realization that he is 100% gay, in rural Iceland, where there is no counseling for youth & no LGBT support groups.

4) "North Sea Texas" is a Beautiful tale of an likeable, adorable gay young boy who grows into a handsome gay teenager & the movie contains a radiant scene of queer self-baptism!

5) "Speed Walking" is an excellent film about a bisexual lad in his mid-teens navigating through his sexual awakening at precisely the same time he's mourning his dead mother & studying up for his Christian Confirmation. Contains a sensitive, poignant, & surprisingly revealing gay-teen Love scene!

I could have easily recommended about 10 other movies that are better than "Friends Forever."

So what about this present movie? Well it's essentially about high-school life at a high-school in Copenhagen. 16-year-old Kristian Malmquist (Claus Bender Mortensen) is new to the neighborhood, & to the school. Kristian is primarily straight, but he is welcomed to the school by Patrick (Thomas Sigsgaard), who later comes out as gay; Kristian also discovers the high-school soccer coach is gay.

The students seem to have a tendency to create a little, good-natured chaos before classes.

One male student becomes very "friendly" with Kristian; he even writes a song for him & shows him signs of physical affection - could he be queer for Kristian?

What's really strange about this movie is it feels more lightweight than it should. Kristian prints up handbills & distributes them to all the students, protesting the behavior of a school administrator, & the students join in the protest. Yet somehow, "Friends Forever" never really strikes you as a "serious" movie - I have no idea why this is so.

A cautionary advisory for readers who may tend to be erotophobic, homophobic, or gymnophobic: this film contains a brief gay sex scene; a brief hetero-sex scene, and a brief nude scene.

One thing this reviewer has noticed about Danish films is they tend to have the cheesiest-sounding pop songs in their soundtracks you are ever likely to hear!

6 out of 10 stars. If you believe you've screened every first-rate LGBT movie that's available, you could give "Friends Forever" a try - just lower your expectations a little.

This is an adorable film full of the charm and high spirits of youth. There are few shadows here and those are dealt with with confident irony, for what is youth but implied optimism? It is amazing how different the point of view is from what an American or English film might be: ambient negativity is not assumed; the boys' gayness is not an automatic ticket to trials and stress. That isn't the point at all. Their discovery of love, of their own sexual energy and of the life-enhancing qualities of friendship/comradeship is just as buoyant and just as magical as that of anyone else: wonderfully positive without ever being sugary.

The chemistry of this movie is just not that common and I would LOVE to see it on DVD. **And I now have!**

I first saw it in general release in NYC when I was 14.

I like European coming-of-age flicks because usually they are refreshingly cliche-free and truthful. "Friends Forever" starts like that but unfortunately lets itself down with some unrealistic about-faces in its characterisation.

Kristian is a shy boy who starts school in Copenhagen and is soon befriended by Henrik, a mature nonconformist who practices tai chi and astronomy. However, Henrik is believed to be gay by the other students in the class, particularly roughneck Patrick, so Kristian distances himself from him.

Kristian becomes fast friends with Patrick and his gang when, in one horrible scene, he helps the lad set on a poor girl in class and rip her top off. Kristian is further surprised, however, to find that Patrick is gay, and is in a relationship with an older man. Meanwhile, he sees an ageing female pop singer in a nightclub, and makes the hard-to-swallow decision to begin a sexual relationship with her, despite her being at least thirty years older than him, and looking it.

The girl who he humiliated tells him to "forget about the sweater thing", and starts a relationship with him too, despite the fact that when we last saw her she was struggling to cover herself, shrieking and crying and running out of the room, humiliated and traumatised.

He's also shocked to his core by his friend's homosexuality, shaking and crying that "it's not normal, nobody else is like you guys"... but yeah, you guessed it, does a pretty quick turnaround on that one.

The movie begins fairly realistically but ends up going for a quick, unbelievable resolution, and even ends with a musical routine. Shame, it could have been better.