Light Gradient [Rückenwind] ** (2009, Sebastian Schlecht, Eric Golub, Iris Minich, Denis Alevi) – Classic Movie Review 13,273

Sebastian Schlecht and Eric Golub star as Johann and Robin, a young gay couple who have known each other for two months and go on a camping trip to get to know each other better. They travel by train to the countryside, biking through the sinisterly beautiful woods of Brandenburg.

They have some mishaps along the way, losing their bikes, and after several days of hiking, they arrive at an old farmhouse inhabited by a woman (Iris Minich) and her teenage son (Denis Alevi), and take refuge with them.

Minimalist and slow-moving though it is, it does have a certain something: the courage of its own weird convictions. The atmosphere of impending doom, something awful about to happen, is created carefully and built up skilfully. By the end, it is so ambiguous and understated that you have to make up your own mind about what’s happened, actually make up the story yourself.

It does run more like a horror film than a romantic drama, but it is both, and also neither. The film isn’t at all sexy or erotic, just strange and creepy. The two boys are playing a kind of sado-masochistic game of the fox and the hare, and the point here is we never get to know which one is which.

The acting of the cast of four is just fine, quite commendable actually, inhabiting their characters rather well. Film-maker Jan Krüger knows exactly what he intends to do, and keeps firmly to the plan.

Light Gradient is an uphill struggle, and patience is required, but it is not negligible nevertheless.