User Reviews

Vandals is a short film that was part of a collection of short films with a similar theme under the title "Protect Me From What I Want" This is one of the films that stand out, because it presents a really realistic relationship in a harsh murky urban-like environment. The main characters are Jonas Ullmann who plays Sebastian and Nils Althaus who plays Johannes. They're a pair of graffiti artists in a gang, but they're also hiding the fact that they're a couple behind closed doors. Sebastian is the group picked leader of the graffiti gang, his image as a self confident ladies man means everything to him.

Johannes wants him to go out with him properly, but Sebastian just can't bring himself to do that and makes excuses. Getting caught by one of their own doesn't help matters either. It drives Sebastian towards a new female member who is an old friend of his. The gang are planning a train type spray paint piece, but Sebastian drops Johannes as his second in command. With their relationship on the line, Johannes is not a happy vandalising bunny. The cast fits well and the leads have chemistry. this film is well worth a look.

This is the first directorial effort and also screen writing effort by Swiss Simon Steuri. And also so far his only one. Short films are actually a pretty popular genre for stories about homosexual characters, but when there is a lot in quantity, there is usually very little in quality and these 17 minutes are really not a quality film at all. We have a gang of Swiss males and one of them is a homosexual. Of course, the other gang members are all homophobes, so they should not find out. And still, when the guy makes out in an elevator, another gang member sees him and is about to tell the others. Oh yeah, the film starts with an argument between the gay couple, which is really a prime example of how not to do it. How are we supposed to feel something when we have no clue who these people are or for what pseudo-dramatic reason they are arguing. Oh by the way, the gang are a bunch of vandals as the title also says, so no idea why he wants to be a part of them in the first place as in the long run he will probably get in trouble with the law. The ending here takes place at a beach and the filmmaker tried to make it artistic with the couple, but it all turned out pretentious. Steuri still has a very long way to go if he wants to be a decent filmmaker one day. Or maybe he has given up his career already. Judging from his effort here, a change in profession may not be the worst idea.