User Reviews

Theirs too much silence & background noises that annoys me waiting for the next deliverance of each actors line, but maybe that's what the movie wanted to imply "silent". The actors are neither imply gay nor straight but on a state of coming out. I believe that the movie story wanted to show a common situation of two men(two strangers) in solitude that met and found comfort zone in each others company. Marlo seeking for any news about Sarah- I believe its her ex-girlfriend which he longing while Kirill is troubled by his family situation and claiming he has a son which the mother don't want him to see. But they were in a questionable situation "of what kind of relationship they're building with each other?"

"Silent Youth" is a German movie from 2012 that will have its 5th anniversary next year. Do not be fooled by the English title, it's all in the German language. The writer and director is Diemo Kemmesies and it is his most known work so far, but this means nothing because it is only his second work as a filmmaker. And it means especially nothing as this film here is not even a mediocre movie, it is a prime example of how everything went wrong and it's a massive failure as a result. The two actors Martin Bruchmann and Josef Mattes are certainly among the weakest components of the film. Both have horrendous line delivery and their acting in terms of physicality is just as bad as the robotic way in which they talk. No idea who agreed on casting them. Besides, the two have zero chemistry. The lack of range of the duo is also a prime example in Josef Mattes' case as he is the son of actress Eva Mattes that worked with Kinski, Herzog, Fassbinder and others, but her talent clearly did not pass on to her son. Back to this movie, maybe they thought if both suck maybe the audience will not realize it in a way they would if one of them is good and the other bad. This is especially painful as both of them are in basically every scene from start to finish. Acting is a fail with the exception of Linda Schüle who is actually fairly decent and makes the most of the little screen time she got.

Now the script. This is the story of two young men meeting and falling in love with each other. And this is basically it. References about a black eye and one character's father feel as fake and included just for the sake of it as the dramatic conflict between the two towards the end, which may have been the weakest moment of the film. It's all so generic. So predictable. So much of a failure. Now let me elaborate a bit on the word "offensive" in my title. This is a description that fits many gay-themed movies and has done so for 2 decades already maybe. Strangely enough back then when it really meant something dangerous to be a homosexual, people were not shoving this subject in our faces in terms of the quantity like it exists now in so many films. Gay-themed movies back in the 20th century, especially before 1990 existed because they had talent and class. And potential. And meaning and a message. Nowadays, gay films do not even have a plot. Them being gay is enough. There are no films that are about nothing but the couple in the center of the film being straight. It is simply not enough of a subject. Homosexuality is not a taboo anymore today. It is tolerated in every society in the civilized parts of the world and certainly everywhere where these films are set. You need character development. Interactions that make sense. And a plot! All this is missing here. This film is the epitome of what is wrong with gay-themed movies in the 21st century. It's all quantity. Zero quality. Luckily the quantity in terms of runtime was relatively low here. I still could not wait for the film to end as watching the two "actors" became more and more painful the longer the film dragged. I highly recommend to stay far far away. Absolutely not recommended.

************SPOILERS AHEAD************

Since the title is Silent Youth, you wouldn't expect a lot of dialogue - and it is indeed scarce. But what dialogue there is, is well placed, significant, although often seemingly only touching on superficialities, and very authentic. The acting is superbly understated, nuanced, organic, and extremely believable. Especially Martin Bruchmann (Marlo) wowed me with his relaxed, openness and intensity.

What I like about this type of movie is the courage to portray characters that feel real and believable. This story with these characters could have happened in real life, just as depicted, no heightened reality, no "grand emotions", no suspense of disbelief, no McGuffins, no forced storytelling -- simply a love story that could have been.

To understand it, you have to pay attention to the minutiae of the budding relationship, beginning with a barely-there touching of their hands in passing. Each shy dart of the eyes, each (short) question and (even shorter) answer a shallow stepping stone in the right direction, towards each other, towards more intimacy. It's a very delicate process and one that could easily have been marred by the many obstacles it is confronted with: Kirill not calling at the expected time, the father driving them, Kirill going off on multiple mental tangents, throwing Marlo curve-ball after curve-ball.

It's really a testament to Marlo's insistence and emotional stability that this chance encounter bears any fruit at all. And it is thanks to his sensitivity that the psychologically self-destructive bender Kirill falls victim to in the last scene doesn't explode right in their faces - with potentially disastrous consequences.

It was very moving to see how Marlo was able to give Kirill a clear signal to stop when he went off the lid and doing so with a minimum of anger or aggression, keeping the door open for another way to interact/communicate (which Kirill took), and subsequently reigning him in with compassion, empathy, and tenderness.

I got a hint of a "survivor" vibe off of Kirill. He is obviously a victim of violence and also frequently manipulated by others (girlfriend, girlfriend's father) but he could even be a victim of sexual abuse. He did, as far as I remember, not answer the return question, whether he had been with a man before, and by not denying it, implying that he had. His line "You seem to be the kind of person that follows people around" seems to underpin this. So maybe he expected to be sexually exploited because that's how same sex hook-ups had turned out for him in the past.

I get the ending, shown as a kind of epilogue, and I liked it because, again, it was very understated while at the same time telling volumes about their journey. But it would have been even more satisfying to see how these two would be doing after, say, a month or two. But that's material for another movie, I guess.

An alternate titel could be "Lost and Found", that's the overall feeling this movie left me with.

A fifteen second elevator pitch for this movie would have been reduced to four words, "A MOVIE ABOUT NOTHING." But just as the famed sit-com Seinfeld was supposed to be about nothing, we learned there's lot to like when the actions on the screen are not contrived.

That's true here. "SILENT YOUTH" finds two young men who are confused about many things including their sexuality.

They seem to have little in common, hence the silence throughout the film, except that they are attracted to one another, somehow.

I say somehow because when Marlo first eyes Kirill, it's at night, dark and Kirill is bundled up in a black hoodie, hood up obscuring his face and physique.

They walk by one another, their hands barely brushing. After many hours, they both wind up on the same bridge watching the sunrise.

Two strangers who ride out their destiny.

-->There were many times during the film that they could have bailed out. But they did not.

And that's the point. In life we are all presented with opportunities. How we deal with those opportunities gives to us the life that we live.

The expression "the bed that we made and have to sleep in it" is apropos.

*Many pass on those opportunities: *never realizing what they missed.

*Others all pass, but they regret it at a later time. *Others still follow the opportunity only to realize it was a pseudo-opportunity and they knew it all along because they weren't following their heart or their instincts.

This is a successful film in that its like any good art, it's thought provoking and the viewer sees in it what they need to feel.

Bravo to Diemo Kemmesies who directed and is credited as the scriptwriter.

Martin Bruchmann as Marlo and Josef Mattes as Kirill are wonderful in their nuanced performances.

If you get the opportunity to see this, don't pass it up.