After the movie, GRF Sam asked “what did you notice about the plot?”, to which I replied “that there wasn’t any” because there is no plot in the Dutch movie “Boys”. The movie is a reflection of life, and our lives don’t have plots. They’re just a series of events affected by what surrounds us and our decisions.

The movie tells the story of Sieger, who over the summer, is awakened sexually and partakes in a secret romance with fellow teammate Marc, meanwhile he’s dating a girl because that’s what 15 year old boys do. I really liked that they showed how comfortable and naturally his relationship with Marc developed, whereas you could see that his and Jessica’s relationship was forced and only moved along because of social norms. It helped with understanding where Sieger’s true feelings really lied.

This movie was interesting in the sense that it was not the typical movie storyline. I appreciated it because it allowed me to learn how to be more accepting in different situations. Apart from that, I enjoyed the cinematic aspects that it had to offer. First of all, there was a lot of time given for viewers to reflect on what was happening as it was happening. Also, the movie had a ‘natural’ sequence of events. They did not skip events but allowed  us to flow with the characters in a sort of fits person view. It was as if we had access to the characters innermost thoughts and perceptions which enhanced the movie.

Seiger in Jungen was a very interesting character to me as he showed a completely different outlook towards the world. He is trying to find his orientation in the film and knowing the stigma towards homosexuality he definitely faces a lot of complications which relates back to the articles i read in high school of how homosexuality is often frowned upon.

I watched the move “Boys”, a Dutch coming-of-age movie about a teen boy who tries to find love. I love the use of cinematography and showing how he interacts with one of his teammates from the track team. The main character’s brother seemed to be the stereotypical rebel older brother, with his motorcycle and car and not caring much about his parents’ wishes. Seeing the main character with a girl made me think, why is he putting on this charade? Is he just trying to fit in?

However, I could never seem to get why the boy looks so emotionless up until the end of the movie, when he is riding with his boyfriend. There weren’t any homophobic vibes in the movie, but heterosexuality seemed to be the norm of the society. I guess he was trying to find himself and while doing so he hurt the person he cared about the most. It’s good that at the end he accepted himself for who he was.

I really connected with him in that he was trying to find his place in his society while still trying to stay positive and do the best that he could in track. Seeing him laying with his boyfriend just made me want to have someone I cared about like that.

Jungen was a story about a boy on his school’s track team struggling with coming out to his friends, family, and even his partner. He balances the daily aspects of his life with his feelings towards his friend on the track team. Throughout the whole movie, he is presented with opportunities to lead a straight life. Ultimately he ends the movie by following his feelings and running off with his boyfriend. I think the movie did a good job of portraying all of the aspects of how he felt mixed with the daily occurrences in his life. As someone with multiple family members who are gay, I hoped this movie would provide more insight into what they might experience during their lives. I overall found the movie enjoyable and was glad to see it ended with a positive note.

On Friday I went to the showing of the movie Jungen, or Boys. It is a LGBTQ+ film about a “queer coming of age” story. As a cis straight male, I thought that this movie may be hard to write about, but I was certainly wrong. After the viewing of this movie, I began thinking a lot about how little I actually knew about the LGBTQ+ movement. I obviously support the movement, but after watching the movie I think I have a lot to learn about the movement and myself as well. I think for a long time I was uninterested in learning about the movement because I thought it didn’t apply to me, yet I think it applied to all of us. People who are a part of the LGBTQ+ community deserve to be treated equally in society, and more often than not they are not treated fairly. I think that in order to truly be supportive of the movement, it is necessary to listen to and understand the people who are a part of the movement. For me this may mean watching more movies like this and possibly having conversations with members of the LGBTQ+ community to hear their stories and for others it may mean something different, but whatever it is that we each need to do, we should do it.

Jungen is a coming-of-age and self-discovery film telling the story of Sieger, a Dutch teenager, who throughout the film was exploring and questioning his sexuality. It was also the first film I watched whose theme revolves around self-discovery and the LGBTQ+ community. Rather than rely on flashy scenes and drawn out dialogue, the movie instead uses its cinematography and its focus on the actors themselves to convey the struggles that Sieger faces in his journey of self-discovery. One of the scenes that stuck out to me most was when Sieger failed to get the baton from Marc at the beginning of the movie. To me, when I first watched this scene, I knew that this meant there will be more conflicts to come, and this foreshadowing was correct. After dealing with conflicts with his brother, with Marc, and within himself, Sieger finally accepts himself and his feelings for Marc, ultimately pursuing what he truly wants and what will make him happy (which I believe can be marked by the successful transfer of the baton and the victory at the final race). Overall, this was a film that I enjoyed watching and after discussing it, it will be a movie that I will watch again in order to be able to pick out and better understand its symbolism. 

Jungen followed a young 15 year old boy named Sieger. He was given “masculine” qualities such as being athletic and participating in many outdoor activities. However, there was scene within the movie in which he was in a lake with one of his friends and they kissed. The kiss was a defining moment for Sieger who began to deny his feelings for his friend by saying “I’m not gay.” He was not only bottling up his emotions, but also lying to himself about his sexual preference. Accepting yourself is one of the most important things you can do in your life. Society has laid out what is “normal” and what isn’t, but instead society should teach everyone to accept themselves for who they are. This movie was touching because that it depicts many people’s dilemmas, but it also shows viewers the importance of knowing who they are and embracing themselves.

Friday movie nights have introduced me to many new films and film genres thus far; this past week’s screening of Jongens (2014) is no exception.  It is the first film I have watched that is presented in Dutch-language, as well as the first I have watched whose central conflict surrounds an LGBTQ+ couple.  Although it was one of the shorter films shown this semester, I still noticed that the director used a lot of symbolism and manipulation of camera techniques to convey different messages about Sieger’s relationship with Marc.  For example, the shot of Sieger and Marc through the gridded the trampoline material, staring at each other in silence, symbolises how their relationship is not completely in the clear yet and foreshadows the tension between them that has yet to come.  Additionally, Sieger’s failure to properly acquire the baton from Marc during track relay practice implies that the lack of honesty and open communication between the two boys is contributing to the breakdown of their relationship.  Overall, I enjoyed the film and think that its plot and screening on Friday night mark very important steps in working towards the proper acceptance and normalisation of LGBTQ+ relationships.

This weekend I watched the Dutch LGBTQ film “Jongens” which translates to “Boys.” I have never seen a Dutch film before, so just on that level, I enjoyed the film and all the shots of the Netherlands countryside. Cinematically, the film was very pretty with lots of blue and green hues, and it has a nostalgic feel. The plot was pretty straight-foward and easy to understand and enjoy, but my favorite part was that it had a happy ending. It’s common in LGBTQ films for the story to end sadly with one or more of the characters dying or an overall sense of unhappiness. In “Jongens,” the main character, Sieger, not only receives acceptance and understanding from his best friend, Stef, but also ends up with the guy he likes, his relay teammate Marc. The ending is still somewhat unambiguous as we don’t know if Eddy, Sieger’s older brother, or his father accept his sexuality, but the final shot is of Marc and Sieger riding away on a moped, truly carefree and happy at last, finally able to slough off their fears about people finding out about their relationship. Overall, it was a very refreshing film, and the short run time makes it easy to watch.

The story of the movie ‘The Boys’ revolves around the processes of growing up and of self-discovery of Sieger, and on his relationship with his friend and fellow runner Marc.
After watching the movie, one thing we discussed was that it relies very heavily on visual storytelling, and that it’s very effective at doing so. I noticed this while watching, and mostly through two recurrent (and, in my opinion, powerful) things.
Firstly, for a large portion of the story, Sieger is questioning his sexuality and/or has made Marc upset due to his questioning. These barriers to their relationship is also physically represented in the scenes, as objects (either on foreground or background) literally form a barrier between them. Examples of this include the trunk of a tree in the background, a log in the water, the walls of the changing room where they go after practice, and, slightly differently, a grid from a trampoline (the camera was put underneath the trampoline, so that Seiger and Marc’s faces were depicted behind this barrier)
Secondly, all of Seiger’s extended interactions with Jessica occur due to social coercion. Most of them are initiated by his friend Stef, who the scenes use as ‘comparison’ to show Sieger “what he should be doing” and influence him to date Jessica (for instance, in several times, Stef is kissing Kim non-stop while Seiger and Jessica are right next to them, thus creating awkwardness and social coercion). By comparison, his interactions with Marc usually occur without others nearby (which thus removes the social coercion factor), and thus evolve naturally.

During the discussion, we’ve also talked about the movie talking not only about queerness, but also about a coming-of-age, and about the relation between these two (and, thus, about the idea of “Queer Time”). This discussion reminded me a lot of the arguments in “Philosophy Tube”‘s video “Queer✨” (which is a video I absolutely recommend, and which talks a lot about Queer Time), and so connecting those two was very useful and interesting for me!

Overall, super happy to have watched the movie. It was a great experience!! ^v^