Moustroll Good movie but grossly overrated

Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Dana An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Paul Creeden This is an honest movie about hard subjects. It is not meant to please the politically correct. It is also not a gay movie. It is much deeper than a portrayal of one sexual lifestyle.I see it, on one level, as an allegory about migration and economic power. Whether or not it was intended to be this seems irrelevant to me. But, I also appreciated its honest portrayal of hustling as it relates to age and isolation in gay male culture.The choice to make Daniel, the middle aged gay client of Marek/Rouslan, a white-collar depressive who is not a slick English-speaker was brilliantly spot on. The interchange of language when the two main characters begin to forge a meaningful relationship from prostitution is paralleled artfully with the interchange of sexual positions between them. Sex, growing to meaningful verbal communication, growing to love, growing to individuation, and salvation for both.Very affective cinematography which is intensely personal or roughly realistic. Daniil Vorobyov, as the Boss, plays a truly frightening villain, whose beauty as an instrument of his sadism rang so true for me. The plot and the Boss character's personality take interesting turns which balance the subdued portrayals of Daniel and Marek/Rouslan.As an older gay man who came out at 17 on a hustler strip of an American city in the 1960s because I could not get into bars, I was impressed by how some things really haven't changed despite the progress in developed nations for middle class and wealthy gay men. The Eastern Boys were familiar to me, as was Daniel, the john. The oldest profession remains either stepping stone or downfall for the runaways and refugees. At least, this one film handled this reality with artful sensitivity and realism.

Tom Dooley Around the Gare du Norde railway station groups of East European lads gather and seek opportunistic chances for an easy buck. Daniel Muller (Olivier Rabourdin 'Of Gods and Men') is a gay man who is attracted to one of them - he is not sure if they are for rent but approaches Marek and a date is arranged at Muller's apartment. Only when he answers the door he is not prepared for the visitor he gets.That is the start and what develops goes way beyond what I was expecting. We have quite a few issues being explored here from migrant integration, crime, pay for sex and affairs of the heart. I was at times feeling uncomfortable, angry, concerned and even happy. The main thing is that it is always engaging.Great performances from all the cast but Olivier Rabourdin was totally convincing and Krill Emelyanov as Marek as the confused yet caring Ukrainian was brilliant. This is for those who enjoy an intelligent gay themed film, but a lot of the issues here are very universal and as such I can highly recommend.

Radu_A Most people in the West know that being gay in Eastern Europe isn't easy. However, the most difficult aspect of being a gay Eastern European - like yours truly - isn't the danger of the situation, or severing the ties to your family, or finding an opportunity to work in a Western country. No, the most difficult thing is that, once one is there, one is constantly confronted with the stereotypes pictured in this film and many others.Here, we have a well-off man in his 40s cruising a hustler in a station, foolishly giving him his address because he isn't free that day. It's not just the hustler who shows up for the date, but also his peers. They clear the man's apartment, which he stoically endures. To make up for it, the hustler returns later for the promised sex and keeps coming back. The man falls in love with him but the boy's motives remain unclear.The way the story plays out gives very good testimony to older Western gays' fantasies of very young manipulative (or manipulable) Eastern rent-boys. In their media, they ignore that rent-boys of Eastern origin are usually straight, in reality it's actually very important to them, as they consider paying for sex with other gays unnecessary. They dream of a 'love story' in which they wield all material and emotional power, and that their partner is a much younger willful tool. Since this is (fortunately) unlikely with the more liberated gay generation of today, they project this fantasy on poor refugees.If 'Eastern Boys' can be interesting for straight audiences, then because it shows how superficial gay men can be, and that stereotypes in our community can be just as pervasive and mean as those women are often subjected to. If you want to get a taste of what the situation of rent-boys is really like, there are a number of documentaries which deal with the issue, such as 'Rent Boys' AKA 'Die Jungs vom Bahnhof Zoo' by Rosa von Praunheim (Germany) or 'Not Angels but Angels' by Wiktor Grodecki (Czech Republic).'Eastern Boys', on the contrary, is a disrespectful charade. Western gays advocate their rights emphatically. They should respect that such a cliché depiction is highly offensive to Eastern gays - and enforces stereotypes faced at home, namely that being gay is a sign of Western decadence, weakness and psychological disorder. We are people, not your objects of desire.

spaceman88 I had no expectations going into this film. And the first few minutes made me doubt my choice. But as the slow narrative starts to develop, it sucked me in and kept me captivated until the very end.A very realistic, raw image of illegal immigrants and a very sensitive story of deception, love and protection. I won't spoil the story, but if you are not homophobic and if you like movies such as Stephen Frears's "Dirty Pretty Things", this is a great cinematic experience. Hopefully this movie will get a wide enough audience and recognition.Go watch it with an open mind.