BOY MEETS BOY - BFI Flare Film Festival 2021 review

Boy Meets Boy centres around junior doctor Harry (Matthew James Morrison), in Berlin for a weekend break, and Johannes (Alexis Koutsoulis), a dancer that Harry meets in a club, just as his weekend of dancing and casual sexual encounters is coming to an end. With hours left before his flight home, Johannes agrees to show Harry the sights of Berlin as the two men open up to each other about their lives, loves and relationships.

Owing a huge debt to Richard Linklater's Before Sunrise, Boy Meets Boy follows the two young potential lovers as they breathe in the atmosphere of the city, debating everything from the benefits of finding sex on Grindr and Tinder to whether Eurovision is "gay revenge for the World Cup" as they bicker and build a real connection that neither are used to experiencing. Harry, an aimless doctor looking for his calling in life, has become accustomed to finding brief fulfilment via casual sex he has through dating apps, conditioning himself so far into the lifestyle that he never wants to have sex with the same person more than once, whereas Johannes believes in the power of forming a bond with another in a traditional relationship, albeit one that may come with caveats to a partner's behaviour.

I'm a sucker for a decent film set over the course of one day in a beautiful city, and this vibrant, talky, unabashedly frank romance doesn't disappoint. The topics they cover are at once insignificant and hugely important, allowing both of the lead characters to get the measure of the man opposite them whilst contemplating whether this connection could lead to more than their limited time together might allow. Directed and co-written (along with Hannah Renton) by Daniel Sanchez Lopez, the two, often opposing, viewpoints of the young men adds a real spark to their day together, with their cynicism and prejudices laid bare to reveal how they both think they should be navigating their way through this world of modern queer relationships. Both Morrison and Koutsoulis impress in their roles and have fantastic, exhilarating chemistry with each other throughout in a Berlin that positively glows, leading to some gorgeously romantic, cliche-defying scenes as they enjoy a brief dance by the river and give in to their impulses.

A film that is hopeful in its outlook but that doesn't ignore the harsh realities of modern love, sex and relationships, Boy Meets Boy is a frank, often emotionally raw film that also bathes in the unavoidable romantic splendour of its sunny locale. The Linklater comparisons may be inevitable and justified, but equally, this is a brief encounter I'd be happy to see more of in the future.

Verdict

4/5

Boy Meets Boy screened as part of the BFI Flare LGBTIQ+ Film Festival. The full line-up can be found on the BFI Player here.

Before Midnight - The first trailer for the return of Jesse and Celine

As all time favourite filmmakers go, Richard Linklater ranks very highly on my list. After first seeing Dazed and Confused as a teenager and then quickly digesting the rest of his filmography in a short space of time, it helped shape my cinematic tastes for the years that have followed and probably explains why the site you are currently reading is called Slacker Cinema. A major highlight of that filmography was 1995's Before Sunrise, the Vienna set romance that introduced the characters of Jesse and Celine, played by Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy.

Linklater, Hawke and Delpy returned to those characters in 2004's Before Sunset and now, another 9 years later, are back once again with Before Midnight. Now married with kids, Jesse and Celine's relationship has reached a new completeness, the questions from the final scene in 2004's installment satisfyingly answered. Now, living within their own romantic legend, Before Midnight continues the ongoing love story.

Jesse and Celine seem to have found themselves a comfortable life (this time on a Greek island), and equally, Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy seem even more comfortable in the roles that they are best known for. Also back on board as co-writers (along with Linklater, Delpy and Hawke received an Oscar nomination for Before Sunset) it's reassuring to know that they wouldn't have risked returning to these roles had they not had something relevant to say.

Receiving great word of mouth after its debut at Sundance in January, Before Midnight arrives in cinemas this summer.

LIKE CRAZY review

Starring Anton Yelchin and Felicity Jones, the transatlantic love story Like Crazy is in cinemas now. Watch the trailer and read my review, next...

L-I-V-I-N

Matthew McConaughey on the set of Dazed and Confused, 1993.

Matthew McConaughey on the set of Butch Walker and the Black Widows' 
new music video, 2012.

Let this be a lesson to us all. Matthew McConaughey is immortal and cannot be killed.

Dazed & Confused and Bemused & Enthused

In what skirts dangerously close to destroying the film I sometimes cite as my favourite one ever, some dangerous young rapper has chosen to recount the entire plot of Dazed and Confused in under two minutes... in rap form.

Ordinarily that would be one culture clash too far for me, but god damn it, it works a treat. Perhaps it's the use of Low Rider as the backing track, or the freeze framed snap shots taken from the film; or maybe it's just the impressive feat of describing a coherent and entertaining plot synopsis at breakneck speed. I do absolutely love Dazed and Confused, and don't think it gets shown enough appreciation these days, so it's nice to see it being held in some reverence.


If you're impressed by the rapping in the video, this is the work of YouTube user Mac Lethal, and I recommend checking out his YouTube page to see what else he can do.


AIR RAID YOU FRESHMAN BITCHES!