Unbelievably brilliant! I can't imagine a better film than this

I've read the book some years ago. I remember being fascinated by the almost fantasy-like world in which our hero and his family live. They are funny, warmhearted, easygoing and freewheeling -and there is some magic secret waiting to be uncovered. And the strange boy has secrets too and is shrouded in mysteries. In the film almost all of the females are shrill borderline cases, acting way over the top most of the time. Our hero is weak willed and confused (which is okay for a teenager coming of age) and must be constantly advised and be comforted by those females who can't master their own affairs. The other boy comes across as a blunt, sexy, needy and selfish guy without any mystery in his life. Being gay myself I appreciate the nicely filmed sex-scenes (guys have sex in the nude and are not covered in linen and shorts like their american brothers ). Louis Hofmann and Jannik Schümann are believable in their roles (as the director sees them) but the MAGIC which hovers about them in the book can't be felt here.

Another film that ruins a good idea and materials. There are too many useless scenes / dialogues. For instance, who cares about whether the co-lead actor loves spaghetti or any other dish? Or seeing trivial actions such as walking, bicycling etc.. No one watches this movie for that purpose.A lot of the scenes appear to exist only to justify and reach the nearly 2-hour film duration. But quantity is not quality.The narrative process is often confusing and makes us wonder what the message is supposed to be. There is a lot of back and forth between scenes set at different times / showing totally different things, and the link between the two is unclear.The co-lead (the non-manly one) does not appear empathic and friendly. When negative things happen to him, not only did I not feel sorry, but quite the opposite. This should not be the case...Filming is also not that great, as often, the camera is slightly shaking. The focus on the characters' face to see their expressions is too often limited and short, preventing us from really connecting to the characters and understanding their feelings.On the positive side, the co-lead (the manly guy) is really great to look at.

I enjoyed it. I may be simple and I may be unable to understand the nuances that apparently abound, but for sheer entertainment for me, it was pleasing. So many of IMDb critics forget that they are watching a film that is designed to entertain. They go off on journey of esoteric criticisms that only the pompous and pretentious would understand. Sit back, open a beer and view it for what is was - just a film, and to me, an enjoyable one.