Silent Youth

By: Robert O'Neill
In-House Review - May 21 2013

Infectiously sweet, with beautiful cinematography and compellingly natural performances, Silent Youth is a film about a young man who feels locked inside his own mind, but finds a new love who may hold the key to his emotional freedom.

Marlo (Martin Bruchmann), a melancholy dreamer, travels to Berlin to visit a friend and ends up spending most of his time wandering around the city streets, lost in his thoughts. He has a chance encounter with Kirill (Josef Mattes), a like-minded youngster who wears battle scars from a recent run-in with a group of homophobic thugs.

A cautious, but complimentary relationship begins to develop. Where Marlo is shy and reserved, Kirill is extroverted and seemingly honest to a fault. At first, Marlo just seems happy to have found a new friend, but the more Kirill opens up, the more intrigued (and confused) Marlo becomes about how their relationship should proceed.

Writer/director Diemo Kemmesies keeps the plot simple and the pace casual while ratcheting up the romantic tension during quiet, observational moments. His camera lingers on these two subtly charming characters during their most awkward silences, as they try to work up the courage to embrace one another fully. Slow and careful, but never boring, Silent Youth has a lot of offer those who enjoy watching honest human interaction unfold on screen. When these adorable misfits finally do come out with their feelings, the scene is all the more heartwarming thanks to the refreshingly casual moments that have preceded it.

By: gayforplay

There is nothing going on in this movie. Some say that "less is more," but "less" doesn't really apply here; this is more like "nothing is nothing." The dialogue and character development are both nearly non-existent. There is no plot at all. Neither of the characters is in any way likeable, and its Berlin cityscapes seem grey and totally unappealing.
Even at its short length, this movie is a waste of everyone's time.

By: panacheXY

I agree whole-heartedly with Robert O'Neill's description in the beginning Product Info tab. This is a beautiful, meditative film filled with skillful urban cinematography and sensual close-up camera shots of the actors and the environment around them. The acting and dialogue, while cautious and minimal, is authentic and real, portraying both the magic and awkwardness of connecting with a friend or a lover. As noticed by the reviews, this genre of film is not for the mainstream viewer, for which there is more than ample selection of fluff to feed attention deficit addictions. But if you allow yourself to appreciate moody, atmospheric films that portray meaning and plot as much through artistic photography as dialogue and action, you will experience 1hr 13min of unfolding, sensual beauty.

By: Hopeless Gay Romantic

I love watching gay themed romantic dramas and comedies. I have probably watched over a hundred of these types of movies so far.

The pros for this movie are beautiful guys and great cinematography. Also, this film is subtitled and since there was very little dialogue, there were very few subtitles to read and so I guess that is a positive thing.

The cons are an overly simplistic story line that lends itself to a 15min short film format rather than this 1hr 13min full length movie.

The result was that I got bored and my mind wondered many times during watching this movie. I kept hoping that the plot would develop more fully and that the story would become more interesting but that never happened!

You better drink a few cups of coffee before you watch this movie to make sure that you will stay awake for the entire movie!

By: zot

I was bored out of my mind by this movie. Practically nothing happens as 2 guys meet and occasionally say a few words to each other. I do understand that awkward silences often happen when people just meet, but a long string of awkward silences do not a movie make.

The shower scene, while also incredibly slow moving, did have a moment of interest when they kissed. But the moment ended and the boredom continued.

Maybe this could have been an 6-minute short, but as a feature-length movie it was incredibly dull.

By: Amos Lassen

"Silent Youth" is a classic coming out story but it has a unique aspect to it, something we tend to forget-the first approach when we just do not know what to say and we live in the "sounds of silence". It is not that we do not want to say something; it is just that we do not know what to say.

Two boys meet coincidentally on the street in Berlin. Neither realized that this causal meeting would change their lives drastically. Marlo is immediately attracted to Kirill and begins following him all over the city. Before long they are walking together and a strange and quiet relationship begins to grow between them and it becomes confusing when Kirill says things about himself. We find ourselves thrust into those early moments of falling in love yet not knowing how to verbalize how we feel. Both boys are socially awkward and fall in love just as they are learning how to open up to themselves and each other. This is a sweet film that is beautifully photographed about a young man who feels locked inside his own mind, but who finds a new love and that just might be what he needs to free himself emotionally.

Marlo (Martin Bruchmann) is a melancholy dreamer, travels to Berlin to visit a friend but ends up spending most of his time wandering around the city streets, lost in his thoughts. A chance encounter with Kirill (Josef Mattes), a like-minded youngster who wears battle scars from a recent run-in with a group of homophobic thugs takes him to thoughts that he had never had before. A relationship begins to develop and we see that Marlo is shy and reserved and Kirill is extroverted and seemingly honest to a fault. At first, Marlo just seems happy to have found a new friend, but the more Kirill opens up, the more intrigued (and confused) Marlo becomes about how their relationship should proceed.

Written and directed by Diemo Kemmesies, the plot is simple yet tense. The camera lingers on these two subtly charming characters during their most awkward silences, as they try to work up the courage to embrace one another fully. Slow and careful, but never boring, this is a film about honest human interaction and we watch as these "adorable misfits" finally do come out with their feelings.

Kirill is Russian and has just returned to Germany after visiting his Grandmother and beyond saying that, he reveals very little about himself. Its a surprise then that after this he agrees to meet up with Marlo another day and accepts his phone number. On their second outing Kirill's father gives the two boys a lift to the Templehoff, Berlin's old abandoned airport. They wander aimlessly around the empty runways communicating intermittingly with brief snatches of conversation. Kirill, the more extroverted of the two, admits to having 'tried it with a man' and then admits that he is the father of a baby girl who he is no longer allowed to see. Marlo stresses that his 'girl friend' is just a friend and cannot really counter what his new friend has to say.

They go to Kirill's apartment where Kirill suddenly says that he wants to take a shower. Naked together the boys finally get physical but instead of this bringing them closer, once the lovemaking is over, Kirill seems more distant and odder than ever.There is a lot said by expressions as we watch these two discover their sexuality and sometimes it really is not clear what it is.

The first look, the steps walking towards each other, the first words exchanged here are important and we pay great attention to the silence that is between them as each waits for the other to say something.