Review of Eastern Boys (2013) by Guillaume B — 03 Feb 2016

Gard du Nord, Paris. Populated by commuters, shoppers and young loitering immigrant men. Director Robin Campillo opens his fascinating drama "Eastern Boys" with a bird's eye view following these titular boys from Eastern Europe. For a good while we get to observe their behavior in groups as people pass them by without paying them any attention. Then a stylish middle-aged businessman in a suit enters the scene. He obviously notices the boys, cruises carefully.

We finally move to ground-level drama with dialog as the cruise by the businessman- who we now learn is called Daniel (Olivier Rabourdin)- ends in a conversation between himself and a young man who calls himself Marek (Kirill Emelyanov). They agree to meet the evening after at Daniel's apartment for paid sex.

When the hour is due, a different, this time underage boy arrives at Daniel's doorstep, claiming to be the man Daniel agreed to meet. He forces himself into the apartment with mentions of blackmail, and is soon followed by a loud gang of young men, Marek among them. An oddly beautiful and intense scene follows as the gang's leader (Danil Vorobyev) orchestrates a peculiar party at Daniel's place. As the gang empties Daniel's apartment, loud music plays and the looters dance. Their boss strikes a nerve with a monologue that exposes the affluent older man's loneliness. The scene goes on for ages, the hypnotic dance enchants us along with Daniel. Greed, ruthlessness and divinity dance a dance of survival. Daniel does nothing. Out of enchantment, out of shame?

The next day, Marek is at Daniel's doorstep, offering the promised sex for money. Daniel agrees. They start meeting regularly. The relationship between the two men begins to shift. Money changes into personal gifts and finally into comfort longed after. Daniel becomes concerned for the troubled younger man. Desire transforms into paternal worry.

"Eastern Boys" is an ambitious mix of tones and genres. It's a crime story, a melancholy love story, an action-adventure of sorts, a meditation on the wounds of war. It shifts its flavor but always has an edge, a unique depth to everything. The twists, turns and changes in pace are handled superbly well.

At its core this is a movie about society, power dynamics and post-Crimea crisis Europe as a whole. There is a sharp, socially observant analysis constantly going on, familiar from Campillo's praised scripts for Laurent Cantet's work. "Eastern Boys" is a story of our times told with artistic vision and expansive character dimensions, brought to life by a really good cast.