A little bit “Y Tu Mamá También,” a little bit “Brokeback Mountain,” a little bit “Meatballs,” this German buddy picture (originally titled “Sommer-stürm”) is about a summer camp where young boys’ thoughts turn to love – often with each other.
Tobi (Robert Stadlober) and Achim (Kostja Ullmann) are best friends who vow never to let anything break them apart. They row on a crew together, wrestle around together in what can only be described as an advanced latency period, and each is dating a member of the girls crew. But as Achim’s feelings for his girlfriend become more serious, so do Tobi’s for Achim. And when they get to that pup tent at crew camp, there’s enough summer stürm und drang to keep the movie afloat through some of its awkward adolescent phases.
Such as the arrival of a team called the Queerstrokers from Berlin, where the Weimar Republic apparently is alive and well on the banks of the River Spree. Ach du lieber! Tobi is confused about his feelings for the perpetually shirtless Queerstrokers, and Anke (Alicja Bachleda-Curus) is confused that he’s confused. Some of this is funny, some of it is tender, and some is just confusing.
For a small coming-of-age film, this picture is remarkably well-photographed and acted. But the single-mindedness with which it seems determined to have almost everyone rowing in the same sexual direction finally becomes a bit oppressive. As one character cries out about an hour into the movie, “Does everything have to be about being gay?”
