A Moment in the Reeds
Release date: 2018-06-29
Votes: 85
Genres: Romance, Drama
Having moved to Paris for university, Leevi returns to his native Finland for the summer to help his estranged father renovate the family lake house so it can be sold. Tareq, a recent asylum seeker from Syria, has been hired to help with the work, and when Leevi's father has to return to town on business, the two young men establish a connection and embark on a romance set against the idyllic Finnish summer. However, looming over this chance encounter, is the father's imminent return to the lake house, the continuation of Leevi's studies abroad as well as Tareq's complex relationship with his family in Syria.
Reviews
CinemaSerf
To be honest, I was slightly uncomfortable watching this - I felt as if I were intruding on something intimate and private! It's a gentle, enveloping, tale of two men who are working on a dilapidated Finnish summer house. The father of one of the men has to, frequently, leave them to their travails and slowly the two bond. Janne Puustinen is "Leevi", who is studying literature in Paris but has come back for a holiday to help his father restore their property so they can sell it; Boodi Kabbani is "Tareq" - is a Syrian refugee who is engaged as handyman. Their developing relationship is sincere and affectionate - sure, there is passion, but that's not really a focal point of the story. Both characters have baggage, and occasionally the appearance of the father "Jouko" (Mika Melender) serves to focus that. It is erotic, but in a seductive rather than rampant fashion and the beautiful lakeland scenery lends much to the intensity of this love story. I found it to be well paced - it is slow, but not laboured, and there is certainly a chemistry between the two men that makes this a thoroughly engaging film to watch.
Movie Recommendation
My Best Friend2018-11-08Lorenzo, a quiet teenager lives in a small town at the edge of the world in beautiful Patagonia. He’s a good student and a curious and smart person, more skilled in music and literature than sports. Lorenzo’s father decides to host Caito, the son of a friend from Buenos Aires who had to go to hospital for a long stay. Caito has obviously a different family background and seems to be a tough kid. Lorenzo finds Caito very intriguing in many ways as they start spending a lot of time together…More...
I Am Jonas2018-11-23When Jonas was 14 he met the charismatic but mysterious Nathan. In addition to guiding him in grappling with his sexuality, Jonas soon confronts something dark and even dangerous about his new friend. Now an attractive, sexually assured adult, memories from this time still haunt Jonas.More...
I Like Movies2023-03-10Socially inept 17-year-old cinephile Lawrence Kweller gets a job at a video store, where he forms a complicated friendship with his older female manager.More...
Everybody's Talking About Jamie2021-09-10Jamie New is 16 and doesn’t quite fit in—instead of pursuing a "real" career he dreams of becoming a drag queen. Uncertain about his future, Jamie knows one thing for sure: he is going to be a sensation. Supported by his loving mom and his amazing friends, Jamie overcomes prejudice, beats the bullies and steps out of the darkness, into the spotlight.More...
The String2009-05-12Malik has a lot on his plate when he returns home to Tunisia after living in France. He's processing his father's death, he can't come out to his mother, and his childhood anxieties have resurfaced. But all of Malik's problems seem to fade away when he falls for Bilal, the dreamy houseboy at his mother's bourgeois estate.More...
Just Friends2019-05-25Joris is trying to come to terms with his broken family relationships on the 10th anniversary of his father’s death when he meets the free-spirited, Yad. Also dealing with family issues, Yad has returned home to The Netherlands after living on his own. Joris and Yad spark an instant connection and decide they want to be more than “just friends,” but fear their families could threaten their relationship.More...
Lilies1997-01-291952: Bishop Bilodeau visits a prison to hear the confession of Simon, a boyhood friend jailed for murder 40 years ago. However, once there, Bilodeau finds himself forced to watch a play put on by Simon and the other inmates depicting the two men's youths. As the play progresses, the tragic truth of Simon's crime comes to light.More...
Diamantino2018-11-28A disgraced soccer star seeks redemption but is exploited by a variety of causes hoping to capitalize on his celebrity.More...
Wild Reeds1994-06-01As the Algerian War draws to a close, a teenager with a girlfriend starts feeling homosexual urges for two of his classmates: a country boy, and a French-Algerian intellectual.More...
All in My Family2019-05-03After starting a family of his very own in the United States, a gay filmmaker documents his loving, traditional Chinese family's process of acceptance.More...
Were the World Mine2008-06-24If you had a love-potion, who would you make fall madly in love with you? Timothy, prone to escaping his dismal high school reality through dazzling musical daydreams, gets to answer that question in a very real way. After his eccentric teacher casts him as Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream, he stumbles upon a recipe hidden within the script to create the play's magical, purple love-pansy.More...
Horseplay2023-06-01In the heat of the summer, Andy leaves the city in order to spend some time at a luxury villa with his best friends. As they party and goof around, their initial consensual horseplay reveals that they each have different personal boundaries.More...
L'Entente cordiale2006-06-21The upper-class secret agent teaming up accidentally with an easily-corrupted, sly interpreter...More...
Genesis2019-03-16Three teenagers are shaken up by their first loves in the turmoil of their youth. At a time when others are conforming, they stand their ground and assert their right to love and be free.More...
Marla Mae2018-04-13When a girl goes to get an IUD implanted by a distant relative, he commits a deranged act which has deadly implications for those close to her.More...
The Reenactment2021-09-17A film crew working on an Unsolved Mysteries-type-show in the mid-90s gets more than they bargained for when they arrive to film at an abandoned house only to find out it may not be abandoned after all.More...
Mario2018-02-22Two young gay soccer players get caught up between the politics of the game and the politics of love.More...
Censor2021-06-11A screener at the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), who has earned an unsavory reputation for being the strictest censor of violent films, begins to spiral out of control after viewing a low-budget horror with similarities to the disappearance of her sister.More...
Yara2021-10-18The murder of 13-year-old Yara Gambirasio shocks the little town of Brembate di Sopra, Italy. To bring the culprit to justice, prosecutors have only scant DNA evidence and no database to compare them to. Based on a true story.More...
If Only2004-01-23After his impetuous musician girlfriend, Samantha, dies in an accident shortly after they had a fight (and nearly broke up), Ian Wyndham, a grief-stricken British businessman living in London gets a chance to relive the day all over again, in the hope of changing the events that led up to her getting killed.More...
Similar Movies
The Bridge
2006-02-16A gay Australian man reflects on the immigration problems of his young Russian boyfriend.Shakespeare's Sonnets...
2005-01-01A Harvard dandy circa 1946 lures his best friend away from the privileges of conformity.Burning Soul
2016-09-11Australia, June 1727, a ship from the Dutch East India Company wrecked on the hostile coast. Pieter and Hendrick are friends like brothers - they grew up together, sailed together, survived together. But when Hendrick discovers the true nature of Pieter's heart, the two men are taken in a storm where friendship and faith collapse.Ira
2019-11-05Ira translates as “Anger,” but the titular emotion isn’t often conveyed by the unnamed man and woman at the center of this subdued Italian drama set on the grim fringes of society. Instead, they spend their nights working—he in the market, she on the streets—or wandering restlessly and relentlessly around their dark, decaying city. Writer/director Mauro Russo Rouge follows his characters as they drive down roads lit by the yellow glow of streetlights, push through the crowds at a pink-hued nightclub, pick up supplies in a glaringly bright supermarket, and meander down sidewalks with drinks in hand. They rarely emerge into the sunlight; most of the action takes place in claustrophobic indoor spaces or in the cold, gray light of dusk or dawn. So, too, do their expressions remain withdrawn—even when their nascent relationship triggers a decisive act of violence.Heartless Disappearan...
2008-09-09When a marriage is threatened by a long excursion for work, domestic trouble is buffeted by family and friends.The Passenger
2012-01-20While searching for a condo in Berlin for his father, Nick meets Philipp, a young talented photographer and a gorgeous actress named Lilli. There is instant chemistry and both are easily seduced by Nick's charms. Lilli and Philipp begin to explore their relationship with the sexy visitor, succumbing to their passionate affections for him which intensifies their volatile emotional and physical bonds. But what Philipp and Lilli don't realize is that they are being lured into Nick's manipulative..and deadly, love game.The Danish Boys
2019-11-01In a Copenhagen motel, a politician's hookup doesn't go to plan. Meanwhile at a nightclub, a mother and son are connected via song. Whereas in the suburbs, a football team prepares for the big outing - of one of its players. The 5 short films are: Hotel Boy (2018); Poz (2016); Young Man's Dance [Ung mands dans] (2014); Swans [Svans] (2016); Ladyboy (2011).Fögi Is a Bastard
1998-09-1115-year-old Beni falls in love with Fögi, a singer in a Rock band. As Fögi seduces him, he is only willing to follow him where ever Fögi wants to. But Fögi is a drug addict and pulls Beni deeper and deeper into the hell of drug addiction.Coming Home
2015-05-24Gay high school couple - Ivan, a well-behaved local Taiwanese, and Eric, a rebellious international student from the US, take a road trip down the most dangerous highway in Taiwan. Their trip is cut short when Eric reveals that he must return home after graduation, forcing Ivan to confront his darkest demons.Crossroads
2015-05-10After the death of his wife, a father finds out his son is gay and confronts him leading to devastating consequences.Budapest, Closed City...
2021-05-29Peter takes his British friend Adam on a personal but political tour around Budapest. In an underground club, Adam makes a move at Peter — who now has to come clear with his own feelings.If These Walls Could ...
2000-03-05The stories of three lesbian couples -- who live in the same house at different periods of time -- who are at a crossroads in their lives. In 1961, Edith loses her lover, Abby, to a stroke. Linda and Amy struggle with feminist issues in 1972. And, in 2000, Kal and Fran try to have a baby with the help of sperm donor.Atoms
2012-10-15Hugo, 34, an educator at the boarding school, finds is daily life disrupted by Jules, a provocative teenager.Thick Lashes of Lauri...
2017-07-28There's this hot ice-hockey guy called Lauri Mäntyvaara. Satu promises she'll do her best, so that her best friend Heidi will get him. You'd think that the picturesque Finnish Archipelago would be the perfect place to discover your first love (and get rid of your virginity), but it will not be easy, if a cynical protein-shake-slurping ice hockey team thinks the target of your desire should focus only on the European Championship, and the only places you can escape to are the pretentious summer wedding parties - or bitter divorce parties.In Therapy
2009-04-17In Rio de Janeiro, the forty and something years old Mercedes (Lília Cabral) goes to the psychoanalyst and tells the story of her life since she was a girl and lost her mother. Along the three years of analysis, her life changes and she divorces from her husband Gustavo (José Mayer) and has love affairs with the younger Theo (Reynaldo Gianecchini)Who Am I Now?
2021-06-28New friends Erin and Alex discover a mutual attraction that neither of them have ever felt before. While Alex tries to navigate her feelings, Erin refuses to acknowledge that she might be gay and heads down a path of self-destruction. Faced with Erin's denial, Alex must decide whether to follow her own path, or fight for the first person she's ever loved.Love Tasting
2020-07-27It's the last week of school in a small polish town's junior high school. Waiting for the final party, several students pass the time at a city pool, as if anticipating the emotional whirlwind they are about to experience. The action takes place somewhere in Poland, where ‘LGBT free zones’ are a reality in 2020. It’s a story about young people, their problems and romantic endeavours in the era of the Internet and social apps, when creating genuine relationships is unnaturally difficult.Love's Coming
2014-02-27The storyline revolves around a group of schoolboys who suspect two of their number are in love with each other. They come up with ways to prove the secret love affair, but things get more complicated when a girl comes into play.For Dorian
2012-06-02A father fears the sexual awakening of his disabled son, a teenager living with Down syndrome, and struggles with the notion of letting him grow up.Three Summers
2006-09-30Jørgen lives abroad, but every summer he comes back to Denmark with his wife. He invites, as usual, his neighbours and their teenager son, Thomas, for dinner at his place. Only, this time there is a strange tension in the air between the adults. After dinner, Jørgen and Thomas go to the beach for a walk. They discover that both have secret problems, and the fact they cannot talk about them is creating great stress. As they disclose their secrets to each other, a friendship starts. But through the course of the next two summers their relationship develops in a way they would never have expected.