The first thing you must understand about this movie is that there is hardly any back story to the characters. Daniil, the well-off French man, wears a suit, has dinner parties at his house, and desires young men to have sex with. He finds one named Marek, who is part of a large group of (illegal) Eastern European guys, none older than 26, that cruises and hustles, and ultimately looks for ways to get over on people. The arrangement is made between the two and disaster happens the following day when Marek's crew shows up instead and ransacks Daniil's place and takes everything. Lesson learned right? That would be a short, but pretty good movie. What we get is a slow slide down to something less compelling. Marek comes back out of some sense of regret (or maybe just an easy way of getting money) and he and Daniil complete their deal, except that Marek keeps on coming back. All of this makes sense to me because people act differently when by themselves. The hustler acts tough with his guys and when alone, he can be more expressive (not that he is). Marek eventually tells Daniil that he trusts him, and so allows himself to be vulnerable enough to relate his tragic tale. Daniil, in turn, offers up no story of his own but shows a desire to take care of Marek. It still makes sense until Daniil's attraction for Marek, who he is getting to know so much about, changes from carnal to paternal. One can still care and protect someone who he or she loves intimately. I would say it is sort of required. So by the end of the movie, when Daniil is now trying to adopt Marek as his son, I was very confused. It just seemed that the maker of this movie wanted to create a relationship between the older man and the younger guy that would be more palatable to audiences. Getting to know someone's troubled back story should not become a reason to stop loving someone romantically, but I think would make that love stronger. It would just take a braver filmmaker to make that point.
Review of Eastern Boys
