Nos jours légers

Alex and leo.. or, in deutschland, Alex und der Löwe. Written, produced, and acted by André Schneider. At least he didn't also direct... that's frequently the kiss of death for films. Leo (schlutt) has recent come out, and pines for alex (schneider). But alex has just dumped his cheating partner, and doesn't want to settle down right away. And has a great support group of friends who hang on a regular basis. All good. When all this is verbalized, suddenly alex is standing out in the hallway, holding his clothes. That part didn't feel right... two guys, who had just been very intimate, but have a disagreement would have that bad a blowup that now alex is standing in the hall, completely undressed? Didn't really make sense. Aside from that, it's mostly good. We get the warm fuzzies when the group hangs out together, and even has a bikini party. Tobi is the outrageous loudmouth, similar to "jack", from will and grace, and steals every scene he's in. Another odd scene is when tobi is performing on stage, in a costume. Instead of concentrating on the performance, suddenly they use trick photography and special graphics effects to divide the screen like a kaleidoscope, with flashing lights and effects. That clearly the tv viewer can see, but the audience in the film cannot. Didn't really make sense. It felt like tobi's act was so weak, it needed spicing up, but rather than write a better scene, they relied on trick photograhy and special effects. Odd choice. Directed by ivesyuri garate. It's mostly good, but needed a few script changes to keep it realistic.

For me, "Alex and Leo" was one of the few bright spots of this year's QFest, but even this one had its bad moments and many, many flaws. The unconvincing camera work and the poor sound quality almost ruined it for me, but then again we have to be aware that there was absolutely no budget involved.

The story: Alex (Andre Schneider) walks in on his boyfriend doing someone else and ends the relationship which makes his friends Tobi (Udo Lutz), Kerstin (Beate Kurecki) and Steffi Graf (Sasca Hai) quite happy, and the reasonable Steffi tries to comfort Alex. German porn icon Marcel Schlutt stars as Leo, who falls madly in love with Alex and leaves his bossy girlfriend for him. (Schlutt is decidedly handsome but also pretty deadpan and totally lacks the ability to act.) Alex is very reluctant at first but can't resist Leo very long. And somewhere in Berlin, love's also waiting for Tobi and Steffi.

Fine performances by Lutz, Hai, Schneider and Hans Hendrik Trost (who plays Schneider's cheating boyfriend) and a nicely penned script save this ship from drowning, the editing is good, and the music (mostly French and German songs) makes "Alex and Leo" so enjoyable that I left the theater with a big smile. Normally, I'd give "Alex and Leo" five out of ten, but compared to all the other shitty films at 2010's QFest, this was a true gem, so I added two more stars.

An excellent piece of European gay cinema! 100 well-spent minutes! "Alex and Leo" proves that a great movie doesn't necessarily need a big budget if the chemistry between the actors is right. And the acting in "Alex and Leo" is wonderful! Hard to say whether German porn icon Marcel Schlutt is a good actor or not, but he's cast perfectly as Leo in this droll romantic comedy that features Spanish actor André Schneider (from "La paz de tus ojos tristes") as his love interest. (Schneider has become a little chubby, but let me tell you, he has the movie world's most beautiful eyes since young Paul Newman!) They fall in love immediately but have some mild trouble in the process of becoming a couple. Of course, "Alex and Leo" has a happy ending. We know it as soon as Schlutt and Schneider meet in a hip Kreutzberg bar, and the movie doesn't ruin our expectations. (A little more nudity from Schlutt and Schneider during their sex scene would have been appreciated, though.) There are some mind-blowing performances from the supporting cast as well (Udo Lutz as Toby the Super-bitch is comedy at its best!), and the music is great, too. A movie that makes me wanna go and see Europe. They seem to have the hottest men on earth.

While I agree with the others that the film has lots of interest and interesting performances, I just can't find it in my heart to believe that Leo would go for Alex. Alex is cold and his personality is pretty wet noodle. Why would anyone fight for him. While a man doesn't have to look attractive, he should have something attractive in his personality. Cutie Leo could do better!! The deux machina ending is also a little contrived. While all of that is true, this film does bring together a group of very interesting people, all with diverse lives, and spotlights their plights. I especially enjoy Tobias who is very off the wall and fun. He shows a wide range of emotional states and plays them out in a way that most of us would like to, but probably never would. Relative to most gay films that are thrown together and often hard to watch, this is a pretty decent film and will film an hour and a half nicely!

I saw the movie "Alex and Leo" at a screening at QFest in Philadelphia. So here is my opinion: This movie could have been so much better. With better actors, better character developments and better comedy. Don't get me wrong, the movie is charming in a amateur kind of way but it also has many flaws. Beginning with the camera work, the quality of this changes from scene to scene. In one scene it's very professional and in the other scene it's very amateurish. The performances in the movie are split between the good Ones like Udo Lutz and the wooden Ones like Andre Schneider. He, as the main guy of the movie has not much leader qualities, the same goes to Marcel Schlutt who is gorgeous to look at, but doesn't have the acting range to play such a part. Their is no real chemistry between both of them, Schlutt does his own thing and never clicks with Schneider. On the good side is Udo Lutz, who creates a funny Tobi. But even he can't save this flick from being a mediocre German import. The saddest thing to say here is that the timing which is so important in these kind of movies is totally off limit. Like I said: This could have been so much better.