Los novios búlgaros

If you have ever been involved with another guy from a former communist country who has absolutely nothing, you can relate to this film! Involved with an poor guy from ANY poor country? YOU CAN RELATE TO THIS FILM! You don't understand their culture, you don't understand their compatriots, their language or their relatives. This guy excites you TOTALLY and you don't really mind the growing drain on your pocketbook... You become more and more in love and more and more involved. The passion of it is exciting; so is the exotic nature of the whole thing including the travel to their home country. What are you getting into?

Another of the reviews here has it right: the attraction of someone from a foreign and backwater culture very different from one's own to an affluent -- hence more powerful -- person whose own culture betrays elements of decadence is unlikely to portend anything good.

There is as well something of the whiff of upper class meets lower class here. I am reminded of Christopher Isherwood's opus in which that theme is played out in Berlin and Spain even as this one is. The writers of this novel and film are covering ground trod before. I do not find this questionable, and indeed I think there is a universal element at work here. That involves the age-old theme of someone with money and social standing besotted by a physically attractive and naive but appealing person who lacks those other attributes. Sometimes it works out, like Pygmalion, but most of the time it is doomed from the start.

The question here is whether the story or the film itself is any good. I thought it was something of a mixed bag. It seemed to me compelling in some parts, as in its vivid depiction of social and cultural distinctions or its clearly professional production values; but I felt less certain of the plot. Although the character of Daniel is completely open and obvious, and even Kyril is vaguely recognizable in both his person and background, the connections to third parties seem forced and improbable. It would have been a more successful film had it concentrated on developing internal conflict rather than hopping about Europe. Sometimes less is more.

The movie is not only terribly boring, but it is a pain to watch: BANAL, BIASED, NO STORY, NO MEANING. It is a good idea for any director to first study the culture and mentality of a country before staining the name of a whole nation. The representation of Bulgaria is simplistic and one-sided. No doubt any Bulgarian would feel deeply offended by such distorted representation of his country. Second, the movie is more than explicit when it comes to male nudity. Nobody would mind to see a couple of passionate love scenes, but it is beyond the call of duty to have Dritan Beba (by the name of Kiril in the movie) walk around naked all or most of the time. Finally, the movie is simply dragging since there is really nothing happening. Even though the actors are believable in their personification of homosexuals, they are simply not convincing when it comes to human emotion. As a whole, the movie is a complete waste. I couldn't finish watching it and I guess nobody in his right mind would unless he's desperate to see gay porn.

Overall this film gives the viewer a good picture of the gay night world in contemporary Spain, but the focus is on the relationship between stolid, bull-like Kyril and emotional passive Daniel. Daniel is the successful and well--to-do middle-aged business consultant who spends much of his free time cruising for sex in night spots. He hooks up with much younger (supposedly age 23, but Biba looks older) Kyril, a Bulgarian immigrant, missing his fiancée who is in Berlin. (Why these two young lovers are separated is not clear.) But Kyril is ready to meet Daniel's needs for friendship and more. The nature of the developing relationship is made clear at the outset with Kyril making love to Daniel in an overpowering and explicit manner. Daniel is much in love with Kyril, but Kyril sees Daniel only as a convenience, a source of money, shelter, and help with his working papers in Spain and with a project that evidently deals with international atomic fuel smuggling. In connection wit the last, Daniel often finds himself involved in skirting the law. The performances by Dritan Biba and Guillen-Cuervo as the older man are excellent and make this movie fun to watch. Both actors should get special awards for their sensitive portrayals of men having a sexual relationship.

The film is funny because it's true; this is very much how these relationships work. I read most of the other comments about this film and what I saw was just sour comments coming from people who most likely have got no idea about how these things go. I've seen things like this happen around me in Istanbul over and over again between foreigners and poor Kurds who are simply looking for a way out of their poverty and who would do ANYTHING to get a residency for the EU or US.

What really horrified me was the dismissal of the 'Bulgarian' acts in the film because they are actually very important. They show us how Daniel has gotten himself in an emotional pit where he accepts that his 'lover' has a wife and a life of which he is no part. He even goes as far as rejecting the nephew of Kyril, who is offered to him on a platter and who very obviously sexually arouses him, because he's committed to a man who only sees him as a convenience.