I was only prepared to give this film just half a chance (which I'm glad I did), and bail out as soon as it got too "Euro" for me.Aside from one semi-painful and overly long techno-music / dancing scene early on, the film was perfectly palatable to this particular Mid-Western American's tastes.As others have noted, it starts off a bit slowly, and you're left wondering if there will ever be any dialogue.Turns out there is, and in multiple languages too. I loved the realism of the two initially only being able to communicate through their own broken English, instead of their native tongues (each being unfamiliar to the other).Really well acted by all, and beautifully filmed. It had a documentary feel to it, without the obnoxious jittery camera work that some directors think that look requires.There are some mildly graphic gay sex scenes, so if that's too much for you, consider yourself warned. It's hardly gratuitous though, and nothing you haven't seen between heterosexual characters in other movies over the last thirty years.The story could have used a bit more background on the primary characters, which is what prevented me from giving it an 8 or a 9. I can see how time constraints might have gotten in the way of the film maker's doing that however.Anyway, it's a breath of fresh air from the usual formula and is much recommended.

While the portrayal of Eastern European teen prostitutes as predators may be spot on, in this instance their victim's passivity makes us wonder about the whole set up.The movie is well photographed and the actors are good, convincing even. It's the story line that didn't ring true for me. The 50 year-old john is a sophisticated Parisian. He's been around the block. We know something about him from his apartment's decor and his photographs. His initial reaction when a child bursts in accusing him of illegal sex is good, but once an entire gang of prostitute thugs takes over his apartment, his inaction is ridiculous. A man like that would have cut and run, admitted his bad judgment to the police and had the gang busted.After his apartment has been stripped bare, the gang's lure shows up and the guy lets him in and initiates what we are to believe is a tender, loving relationship.I'm not buying it. Could this have happened? Sure. But to a Parisian guy who picks up hustlers, presumably on a regular basis? No way, no how.That the object of his desire resembles a young Roman Polanski didn't help matters for me. I could see someone acting like a complete fool for a raving beauty with testosterone to spare, but this kid wasn't one by a long shot, IMO.This movie isn't worth watching guys. I think that for first world in-the-life gays, this will seem antique.

(Screened as part of the myFrenchFilmFestival.com that is underway only on screens - the TV link does not work for most of the features and the shorts, no matter what anyone else might tell you).Full disclosure - the screening for this movie was not done, due to a technical glitch, and one of the organisers promised to screen it once again, and let us know when that would happen. This is a review of the first 70 minutes of the 129 minute movie.The movie begins just showing life as you pass it by in any public square, deceptively focusing on a group of characters who turn out to be the main prota/antagonists as the movie progresses. It puts us in the position of being a fly-on-the-wall, and for those rewarded with patience among their character traits, it is a rewarding set of sequences.When the plot finally takes off, we are blessed with the degree of involvement needed to take sides, be in the corner of the protagonists, as it were. It also helps understanding that what transpires thereupon, could happen to anyone. Scary, but surely true, in this day and age. It is a very tender tale, told with an appreciation for the nuances inherent in human relationships, with an eye for capturing really intimate moments that are usually glossed over in mainstream cinema, without offending sensibilities (or so I thought - but more on that later). The technical aspects are all fine, and complement the narrative as they should, never detracting from the tale being told, never calling attention to themselves, which is the way it should be - plot over everything else, substance over style, and so forth.The performances are also uniformly good, with the bulk of the responsibilities shouldered by the main protagonist played by Olivier Rabourdin (many many credits, including the 'Taken' franchise, Ma mère, Rois et Reine, 13 Tzameti, Crime d'amour, Midnight in Paris, Les Lyonnais, Grace of Monaco), who looks and acts like Kevin Spacey (without the showiness that he's becoming more famous for nowadays) in 'David Gale' mode, and that's nice to behold.As an aside, in a screening as a part of myFrenchFilmFestival.com, I got to see actual homophobia (no surprise actually, considering the mentality of most of this generation even, but being faced with it was another thing altogether). There were a group of professionals (!?) who walked in 30 minutes into the screening, were noisy getting in, noisier in all their whispering during their 15 minutes of watching the movie, and noisily shocked by the instances of physical intimacy between 2 consenting adults of the same gender, and ultimately walked out noisily. I wouldn't wish that kind of audience on any movie appreciating individual or group, but movie-watching nowadays, especially the specialty kind, seems to be more a test of patience and compromises lending themselves to being endurance and tolerance tests more than anything else.I'll update this review after watching the movie in its entirety, and since the organisers have not gotten back with details of the next screening of this flick like they promised they would, am not completely sure when that might be.

I had heard some things about the film before I went to see it, otherwise I had no idea what to expect. From the synopsis, there is a minor spoiler. So if you don't think about the synopsis too much, then you will enjoy the first 20 minutes of the film even more. Just an FYI, there are no subtitles when the characters are not speaking French. I don't understand why they did that, but it doesn't harm the movie. A caution to any people interested, the movie does begin slow for the first 10 minutes. Following that is a slow, tense build though, which works well.What makes this movie excellent is the twists and turns the story takes. You think it's going in one direction, then suddenly it does a 360 without any warning. I know that can be bad at times, but for this movie it's actually executed very well. The acting is great, particularly the main character, the leader of the gang and the female hotel manager (she is very important to the film). One of the most interesting parts of the story is its take on love and trust.The only issues I have are the technical aspects, such as dark lighting and some odd cinematography.Overall, I would recommend this film. I'm sorry I can't say a lot about the film because saying one thing would spoil something important about the film.