Eastern Boys

I had no expectations going into this film. And the first few minutes made me doubt my choice. But as the slow narrative starts to develop, it sucked me in and kept me captivated until the very end.

A very realistic, raw image of illegal immigrants and a very sensitive story of deception, love and protection.

I won't spoil the story, but if you are not homophobic and if you like movies such as Stephen Frears's "Dirty Pretty Things", this is a great cinematic experience. Hopefully this movie will get a wide enough audience and recognition.

Go watch it with an open mind.

Pretty weird flick... Olivier Rabourdin is "Daniel", who thinks he has picked up a hustler at the train station; instead, things go from weird to weirder. The person who shows up at his door is NOT the person he thinks he hired, and when a whole group of eastern block people show up, things go south quickly. Daniil Vorobyov is "Boss", the chiseled, muscle-y leader of the pack, who runs the show. Then Daniel sees Marek, the guy who lured him into this whole mess (Kirill Emelyanov), and they strike up an odd relationship. The last two thirds of the film is mostly about their relationship, which has its ups and downs.

Written and directed by Robin Campillo, whose other works are related to gangs or different social classes and the issues that come with that. Not much info on any of these actors in IMDb. While this film is a bit off-beat, it's certainly entertaining, and one of the few films where I was not able to guess what comes next. English subtitle translation du français.

EASTERN BOYS is the story of a middle-aged man developing a love interest with an Ukrainian rent boy. The boy's still caught up in gang life and his troubled condition as an immigrant in France complicate the relationship. EASTERN BOYS is part drama, part romance, a story told with relatively little words and carried by superb performances.

All of the characters appear to be very real, and even the movie's "villain", the gang leader, is relatable and not one-sided. The relationship between the two main protagonists is similarly multi-faceted and interesting.

Overall, the movie did keep me interested... but at times it just prodded along, bugged down by pacing issues. Especially the middle part of the movie had far too many short scenes with short musical interludes, which made everything seem blur together. Cinematographically, EASTERN BOYS looks decent but it also has a lot of generic shots and cuts... and a pretty bad overlaid images shot in a dance scene.

All in all, a decent gay-themed romance drama that will keep you entertained, but it won't blow your mind.

I was about to turn it off. The beginning where it was just walking around with the boys speaking to each other without subtitles was pretty boring. Then the second scene in his apartment dragged on and on, but the other reviews said if you keep watching, it's worth it. It sure was. It took a n unexpected turn and ended up being a really good movie. The last 15 minutes were especially exciting.

I was only prepared to give this film just half a chance (which I'm glad I did), and bail out as soon as it got too "Euro" for me.

Aside from one semi-painful and overly long techno-music / dancing scene early on, the film was perfectly palatable to this particular Mid-Western American's tastes.

As others have noted, it starts off a bit slowly, and you're left wondering if there will ever be any dialogue.

Turns out there is, and in multiple languages too. I loved the realism of the two initially only being able to communicate through their own broken English, instead of their native tongues (each being unfamiliar to the other).

Really well acted by all, and beautifully filmed. It had a documentary feel to it, without the obnoxious jittery camera work that some directors think that look requires.

There are some mildly graphic gay sex scenes, so if that's too much for you, consider yourself warned. It's hardly gratuitous though, and nothing you haven't seen between heterosexual characters in other movies over the last thirty years.

The story could have used a bit more background on the primary characters, which is what prevented me from giving it an 8 or a 9. I can see how time constraints might have gotten in the way of the film maker's doing that however.

Anyway, it's a breath of fresh air from the usual formula and is much recommended.