birkgez

Firstly... So impressed by the acting of all the main characters, but especially Majd Mardo and Josha Stradowski as the two young men who met, and, well, sparks do fly. Don't be fooled by their physical beauty - these guys are both excellent actors. The chemistry between Joris and Yad was so palpable, it literally danced off my screen. Special mention must be made of Jenny Arean and her gorgeous portrayal of Ans - Joris' grandmother. Delightful. But the underlying current of this film for me was the importance of family. I cannot fault anything here - the writing, the directing, the cinematography, the editing; all superb. This heartfelt film deserves a much wider audience.

9.5 Stars....Initially, at the beginning, I thought this was going to be a dim-witted comedy. By the end I loved it. In fact, I started watching again after the credits had rolled! As others have mentioned, the chemistry between Mario and Lucas was some of the most beautiful and realistic chemistry I have seen in any gay film anywhere. It reminded me of the French film Just A Question Of Love (2001) given the naturalness of the actors in Cousins. Both the main actors, Thiago Cazado; who also did a great job directing, and Paulo Sousa were both outstanding, and the actress who played Aunt Lourdes did a really fine job also. The writing was also excellent, as was the cinematography. Any hope of a sequel guys?

Just finished watching this very powerful portrayal of a deeply religious and conservative Afrikaans farming family in the Free State region of South Africa who take in a drug using street kid played immensely well by Alex Van Dyk. In fact, he, and the young lead Brent Vermeulen (who plays the family's only son Janno) were both outstanding in this film. And I believe this was their first film roles? The acting from all the main characters was superb, as was the script and direction from Etienne Kallos. A special mention must be made of the sublime scenery in that part of South Africa. I gave this 8 stars (instead of 10) for two reasons. At times I did find it quite slow moving, especially given the length of the film, and secondly, despite the overall high quality as I outlined, I found it a quite depressing and bleak story that left me reaching for a block of chocolate at the end.