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A melodramatic coming-out tale, Summer Storm is set at a summer rowing camp in the idyllic German countryside where talented teenage oarsman Tobi (Robert Stadlober) is struggling with his feelings towards best friend and team-mate Achim (Kostja Ullmann). A kind of Bavarian version of Brit film Beautiful Thing, writer/director Marco Kreuzpaintner's story is unfortunately burdened with a schematic screenplay, which offers all-too-familiar lessons about sexual tolerance and being true to one's desires.
You've got to feel sorry for the Polish actress Alicja Bachleda-Curus who plays the beautiful girl repeatedly spurned by Tobi. Still, even her uncomprehending character would quickly grasp the message behind this not particularly subtle piece of filmmaking. Even the storm of the title, which forces everyone to rush for cover in a hostel, is the predictable catalyst for the characters' emotional revelations.
"PLENTY OF BUFF, SHIRTLESS GUYS IN TIGHT TRUNKS"
Replacing a women's team at the camp are the Queerstrokes, a muscular all-male crew from Berlin who are out and proud - and happy to mock the masculinity of their straight rivals. For the closeted Tobi, their attractiveness coupled with their ease about their sexuality is the stuff of fantasy. With an eye to his target audience, Kreuzpaintner throws in plenty of lingering shots of buff, shirtless guys in tight trunks engaged in enthusiastic horseplay, before showing the hero's passionate love-making.
There's nothing wrong with the enthusiastic performances of the young cast, but you've got to worry when the filmmakers choose a vapid cover version of Go West for their calculatedly uplifting climax.
In German with English subtitles
