andredejongh Review of You & I

You & I (2014)

Beautiful film about sexual awakening within the tradition of Romanticism, Heimat movies and Lars von Trier's Dogma 95.

[9/10 · 13 January 2019]

Lovely movie. A slow paced road movie with lots of improvisation by the actors. You follow two best friends on their holiday together. The first one is Philip a German who we catch at the beginning of this film watching straight porn: we see explicit photos of women. We see him gear up his van to pick up his good friend Jonas. Jonas is gay. It's clear that the two men are very close. But it's also clear that their relationship is platonic. They kiss each other on the lips when they are happy and they don't feel shame for being naked in front of each other. Philip is a photographer. His camera is used as a way for Philip to intimately connect with Jonas. Only via the camera he really observes Jonas' naked body. He frames Jonas and makes him his subject of desire that way. Although in close contact he's like a playful puppy or brother with him. And he shows no sign of being sexually interested. He only wants Jonas to come live with him in Berlin after the holiday because he needs him emotionally. We also learn half way the movie that Philip and Jonas know each other from London and that they worked for the same company and lived together in London for almost a year. This explains why they feel so comfortable with each other. Why they kiss, get naked in front of each other and why they have this deep emotional bond. As said the movie is slow paced. Nothing really much is happening. There's not even much sexual tension. They both seem to have compartmentilised their feelings for each other. They feel like family. They are vulnerable with each other and they show love for each other. There's lots of space for improvisation by the actors. You see some laughs they have which no actor could act out like this. And at the end of the movie the milk play between Jonas and hitchhiker Boris seems to have been improvised also, the actor who's playing Boris clearly didn't see it coming. But they stuck with it. This laissez-faire feeling, to clearly have a script with lots of outlines and some central directions but where the rough details are filled in by the actors themselves, so it feels like a real connection happening between the protagonists. Anyway, hitch hiker Boris enters the story. He's from Poland we learn. And at first he's a bit homophobic. In his verbal language that his. His body language shows he wants to be vulnerable with them. He underesses immediately in the woods when Jonas is also naked. They are all drunk by the whiskey they drank. The highlight of this film are the last 10 minutes. During their holiday trip Jonas fell for Boris. Where Philip was romantically unavailable for him there's Boris who is sexually awakening with Jonas. They are playful with each other and they seem to have a loving, fun and virile sexual connection. We start to notice Philip's jealousy when he is disturbed by Boris and Jonas eating cherries from the trees on the grounds of the big villa they are staying at. Cherries have a sexual connotation, used as a metaphor by the director. You can eat some cherries, says Philip. But not all! Meaning he doesn't mind them fooling around but it shouldn't get too serious. But it is slowly getting serious between those two. When Philip learns that Boris is really having sex with Jonas he goes out of the house, by himself. We see him rowing on the lake in a small boat. Surrounded by water. Water as a symbol of birth, rebirth, being purified. We see Philip going deep into his emotions. It's clearly time to really face himself. To be one with his own natural self (this whole movies is set in nature. The romantic notion of nature being the place where you are truly your real self, where you are pure and connected to your real instincts, being one with nature). We see slowly Philip realising that he wants to be connected to his real feelings for Jonas. It's not only emotional intimacy he's after, as we soon will learn. He also desires Jonas. It's more than just a deep brotherly connection. So in order not to lose Jonas to Boris, Philip rushes back to the Villa. And we witness one of the most beautiful romantic scenes ever seen in a film. I honestly think that these last scenes were the premise of this film. And the long road trip through nature was a rough outline from the get go with lots of improv. The last 10 min of the film show that this film is not just some amateur cinematic experiment. There's a real artist behind this movie. And with a modest budget he created an honest romantic film. Litterally belonging to the intellectual movement which was called Romanticism. And it also hits common ground with the German Heimat Movies, where nature and folklore culture are glorified. But not without criticism. The German NAZI's were fond of heimat movies and they glorified the human/male young athletic body. By letting the three main characters piss over the stone which carries the name of former NAZI highflyer Göring's summer house, where the three are roaming around, director Nils Bökamp literally distances himself from the fascist ideology many of these Heimat stories have, while still being connected to this influential cultural movement in German history. Beautiful movie. And worth much more than the minus 6 stars it gets in here. It's a beautiful romantic story about sexual awaking for both Philip and Boris. The long deep felt connection between Philip and Jonas wins it from the summer love between Boris and Jonas. We don't have to feel sorry for Boris. Both Philip and Jonas made him realise who he really is. And probably for the first time he has his heart broken. But at least he's whole, one with his emotions and desires. And as we know from the beginning of the movie: Jonas will go live with Philip in Berlin. Nils Bökamp delivered a playful, beautiful and meaningful piece of cinema. A story of gay sexual awakening within the tradition of Romaticism and the Heimat culture and roughly inspired by Lars von Triers 'Dogma 95' style of filmmaking. A movie worth rewatching. And a valuable addition to any film lovers film library.