Young Hearts review – arrival of dishy teen neighbour sparks queer first love story

This tale of a boy’s sexual awakening when a city boy moves into town creates its own issues in refusing to make sexuality problematicHere is a movie from Belgium about young queer love, with an obvious superficial resemblance to Lukas Dhont’s recent intense drama Close. But for all that this film shows an arguably refreshing and perhaps even radical refusal to problematise the central relationship, it looks pretty shallow in comparison.Elias (Lou Goossens) is a teen boy in rural Belgium, notionally going out with Valerie (Saar Rogiers), a girl at his school. His grandpa is a farmer nearby, his dad a composer of cheesy but successful pop songs. Elias is quietly stunned when a good-looking boy of his age moves in next door, just arrived from Brussels; this is Alexander (Marius De Saeger). They become friends; Alexander is perfectly calm and candid about being gay and then they become more than friends. They have to deal with homophobic bullying at school and Elias’s discarded girlfriend has to handle her own feelings of anger and rejection. Continue reading...

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