Summer Storm

Summer Storm (2004) - 2/10

Directed by Marco Kreuzpaintner

First Viewed: 4/25/08
Starring Robert Stadlober as Tobi and Kostja Ullmann as Achim

I have the hardest time finding good gay films. Most of the ones I have seen have a bad script, poor acting, and are poorly shot. Unfortunately, the German film Summer Storm is not an exception to this trend.

Tobi and Achim are long-time best friends who are on a rowing team. Kreuzpaintner decides to help establish this relationship by introducing, within the first five minutes, an extended sequence of the two teens wrestling and then masturbating together on a bathroom floor. This sequence seems to have been directly lifted from Alfonso Cuaron's film Y Tu Mama Tambien - the two bored protagonists also jerk off together - but it lacks the wit, passion, and technical mastery of that sequence.

It all goes downhill from there. The rowing team sets off to train for an upcoming tournament at a beautiful lakeside location where they meet their various competitors, some Catholic women’s team that is essentially ignored and “The Queerstrokes,” a team of gay rowers who slowly seduce many of the rowers of our protagonist’s team. Tobi has a crush on Achim, which he tries to hide by pretending to enjoy making out with his boring girlfriend, Hansi. The presence of a bunch of flirting gay – and sadly, for the most part, not very cute – guys compounds Tobi’s troubles and results in many angst-filled moments.

Even though I enjoyed watching Summer Storm with my friend, it simply does not work well. The entire plot of a questioning character crossing paths with a team of gay rowers is incredibly contrived and predictable. The script and dialogue are poorly written and the characters and the actors playing them are boring. The technical aspects do not fare any better as the film suffers from poorly paced editing and amateurish cinematography. In short, Summer Storm fails to rise above the muck that is most of gay cinema – my search for excellent films in this genre continues.