Tom Dooley Around the Gare du Norde railway station groups of East European lads gather and seek opportunistic chances for an easy buck. Daniel Muller (Olivier Rabourdin 'Of Gods and Men') is a gay man who is attracted to one of them - he is not sure if they are for rent but approaches Marek and a date is arranged at Muller's apartment. Only when he answers the door he is not prepared for the visitor he gets.That is the start and what develops goes way beyond what I was expecting. We have quite a few issues being explored here from migrant integration, crime, pay for sex and affairs of the heart. I was at times feeling uncomfortable, angry, concerned and even happy. The main thing is that it is always engaging.Great performances from all the cast but Olivier Rabourdin was totally convincing and Krill Emelyanov as Marek as the confused yet caring Ukrainian was brilliant. This is for those who enjoy an intelligent gay themed film, but a lot of the issues here are very universal and as such I can highly recommend.

sesht (Screened as part of the myFrenchFilmFestival.com that is underway only on screens - the TV link does not work for most of the features and the shorts, no matter what anyone else might tell you).Full disclosure - the screening for this movie was not done, due to a technical glitch, and one of the organisers promised to screen it once again, and let us know when that would happen. This is a review of the first 70 minutes of the 129 minute movie.The movie begins just showing life as you pass it by in any public square, deceptively focusing on a group of characters who turn out to be the main prota/antagonists as the movie progresses. It puts us in the position of being a fly-on-the-wall, and for those rewarded with patience among their character traits, it is a rewarding set of sequences.When the plot finally takes off, we are blessed with the degree of involvement needed to take sides, be in the corner of the protagonists, as it were. It also helps understanding that what transpires thereupon, could happen to anyone. Scary, but surely true, in this day and age. It is a very tender tale, told with an appreciation for the nuances inherent in human relationships, with an eye for capturing really intimate moments that are usually glossed over in mainstream cinema, without offending sensibilities (or so I thought - but more on that later). The technical aspects are all fine, and complement the narrative as they should, never detracting from the tale being told, never calling attention to themselves, which is the way it should be - plot over everything else, substance over style, and so forth.The performances are also uniformly good, with the bulk of the responsibilities shouldered by the main protagonist played by Olivier Rabourdin (many many credits, including the 'Taken' franchise, Ma mère, Rois et Reine, 13 Tzameti, Crime d'amour, Midnight in Paris, Les Lyonnais, Grace of Monaco), who looks and acts like Kevin Spacey (without the showiness that he's becoming more famous for nowadays) in 'David Gale' mode, and that's nice to behold.As an aside, in a screening as a part of myFrenchFilmFestival.com, I got to see actual homophobia (no surprise actually, considering the mentality of most of this generation even, but being faced with it was another thing altogether). There were a group of professionals (!?) who walked in 30 minutes into the screening, were noisy getting in, noisier in all their whispering during their 15 minutes of watching the movie, and noisily shocked by the instances of physical intimacy between 2 consenting adults of the same gender, and ultimately walked out noisily. I wouldn't wish that kind of audience on any movie appreciating individual or group, but movie-watching nowadays, especially the specialty kind, seems to be more a test of patience and compromises lending themselves to being endurance and tolerance tests more than anything else.I'll update this review after watching the movie in its entirety, and since the organisers have not gotten back with details of the next screening of this flick like they promised they would, am not completely sure when that might be.

Radu_A Most people in the West know that being gay in Eastern Europe isn't easy. However, the most difficult aspect of being a gay Eastern European - like yours truly - isn't the danger of the situation, or severing the ties to your family, or finding an opportunity to work in a Western country. No, the most difficult thing is that, once one is there, one is constantly confronted with the stereotypes pictured in this film and many others.Here, we have a well-off man in his 40s cruising a hustler in a station, foolishly giving him his address because he isn't free that day. It's not just the hustler who shows up for the date, but also his peers. They clear the man's apartment, which he stoically endures. To make up for it, the hustler returns later for the promised sex and keeps coming back. The man falls in love with him but the boy's motives remain unclear.The way the story plays out gives very good testimony to older Western gays' fantasies of very young manipulative (or manipulable) Eastern rent-boys. In their media, they ignore that rent-boys of Eastern origin are usually straight, in reality it's actually very important to them, as they consider paying for sex with other gays unnecessary. They dream of a 'love story' in which they wield all material and emotional power, and that their partner is a much younger willful tool. Since this is (fortunately) unlikely with the more liberated gay generation of today, they project this fantasy on poor refugees.If 'Eastern Boys' can be interesting for straight audiences, then because it shows how superficial gay men can be, and that stereotypes in our community can be just as pervasive and mean as those women are often subjected to. If you want to get a taste of what the situation of rent-boys is really like, there are a number of documentaries which deal with the issue, such as 'Rent Boys' AKA 'Die Jungs vom Bahnhof Zoo' by Rosa von Praunheim (Germany) or 'Not Angels but Angels' by Wiktor Grodecki (Czech Republic).'Eastern Boys', on the contrary, is a disrespectful charade. Western gays advocate their rights emphatically. They should respect that such a cliché depiction is highly offensive to Eastern gays - and enforces stereotypes faced at home, namely that being gay is a sign of Western decadence, weakness and psychological disorder. We are people, not your objects of desire.

gregking4 Illegal immigrants from the former Soviet Union come to major European cities where they eke out an existence as grifters. In this compelling drama from former editor turned director Robin Campillo (The Returned, etc), a group of young former Russian youths linger around the main Paris railway station, looking for potential victims. In particular, they prey on middle aged gay men, using good looking youths to lure the men into a trap. One such victim is Muller (Olivier Rabourdin, from Taken 2, etc), a well dressed businessman who catches the eye of the handsome youth Marek (Kirill Emelyanov). He invites Marek back to his lavishly furnished apartment, but is surprised when a gang of thugs turn up, who party hard while systematically looting the place. And of course Muller can't go to the police, which is what the gang count on. Shortly afterwards, Marek turns up alone, and a relationship begins between the two. Marek tries to keep the relationship a secret from his gang. Eventually Muller develops a more paternal concern for Marek and convinces him to leave the gang and start a new life. Which is when the situation grows more intense and dangerous. An exploration of gay male sexuality, xenophobia, and the immigration problems plaguing Europe in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union, Eastern Boys begins slowly and undergoes a number of tonal shifts. There is an extraordinary sequence in which the gang strips Muller's apartment while throbbing disco music pounds on the soundtrack. But Campillo ratchets up the tension and suspense as the film moves towards its climax, which is quite gripping and claustrophobic. The moderately explicit sex scenes are handled delicately. Campillo uses long takes to develop the narrative tension. The two central performances are also solid. Rabourdin looks like a Gallic Kevin Spacey with his perpetually downbeat and gloomy expression, while Emelyanov is sympathetic as the naive and vulnerable Marek. There is a wonderful chemistry between the pair and the audience cares about their relationship. And Danil Vorobyev is quite menacing and chilling as the gang's psychopathic leader, simply addressed as "boss".