Flower Boys

Be still my beating heart this was achingly beautiful and a rare example of mature, well-handled queer cinema in this competition. There's some adult teams who could absolutely take a leaf or 10 out of this team's book because they put a lot of teams to genuine shame this year simply by making a touching love story between 2 young thespians. With an affinity for the bard himself and keeping physically active through running, the two young men studying Shakespeare catch each other's eye but the delicate propositioning always had something beyond their control getting in the way of their path. This was a well-thought out gentle yet charming film with a few technical bumps such as the opening couple of shots being out of focus and wind on the audio track for several outside shots, plus a couple of areas where the edit could have been tightened such as the overly long establishment that one character loved tea, however I'm giving high marks because it was a raw open window into young love that struck a chord. Whilst I may seem negative about the issues behind the scenes, I should note that the camera work was very solid and tidy in terms of framing and drawing the audience in.

Two young men studying Shakespeare mirror the beginning of Romeo and Juliet with some charming flirting. But various things serve to keep them apart despite their stolen smiles. Finally, in an extremely heartwarming scene, the filmmakers give over and let them get together. Cue much 'awing' in the audience. This was a wee gem of a film with a charming story that did what all good films do - made me care about the characters and their needs. There was some dodgy focus at points and wind noise but this film really bought the feels which always cuts through the odd technical mishap. Great to see some same sex romance coming from younger entrants - good work.