A simple synopsis in that an Italian boy is a swimmer and has to go to Russia for a swimming competition and when he gets there he meets the translator – Vladimir – and they hit it off and that grows into love.
It is also a tale of homophobia in Russia and is interwoven with an old silent film; said film is part of this production but made to look aged. The themes are eternal love and parallels with love of both straight and gay people – in that we are all the same. The downsides are that it takes its time and this is on purpose – sometimes coming across as a travelogue with arty and very poetic shots and then getting back to the story. The two men are good but we do not get a real sense of how the magic happened and there is very little real chemistry.
Also no bedroom action to speak of and it is also a short film at around 70 minutes, but because of the slow pacing it actually felt longer. So a film with an important message that may have been lost in translation. This film's original title was "Non accettare i sogni dagli sconosciuti" and it is also known as 'Dreams from strangers'. One for rental only as there is nothing here to gain from a second viewing which is a shame as there are a lot of good ideas here but it fails to be an equal to the sum of its parts.
It is also a tale of homophobia in Russia and is interwoven with an old silent film; said film is part of this production but made to look aged. The themes are eternal love and parallels with love of both straight and gay people – in that we are all the same. The downsides are that it takes its time and this is on purpose – sometimes coming across as a travelogue with arty and very poetic shots and then getting back to the story. The two men are good but we do not get a real sense of how the magic happened and there is very little real chemistry.
Also no bedroom action to speak of and it is also a short film at around 70 minutes, but because of the slow pacing it actually felt longer. So a film with an important message that may have been lost in translation. This film's original title was "Non accettare i sogni dagli sconosciuti" and it is also known as 'Dreams from strangers'. One for rental only as there is nothing here to gain from a second viewing which is a shame as there are a lot of good ideas here but it fails to be an equal to the sum of its parts.