Young Hearts

Be still my beating heart...what a beautiful film this is.

After a slew of short films, Anthony Schatteman's long-awaited debut feature has finally arrived...with a heart-shaped splash rather than a gnarled ripple! And...he didn't take the easy route...working with kids. Risky to say the least!

Well...that risk paid off. Thanks, in part, to a remarkable central performance...and, a script that defies current 'thinking'. There is no getting away from the fact that stories like these, young adolescent gay love [imagine this being told 15 years ago!], is now a reality. The danger is when those storytellers cannot separate sexuality from gender...not all little gay boys want to dress up like a fairy, paint their nails and play with a Barbie. Thankfully, Mr Schatteman did not fall against that double-edged sword. Instead, he reverts back to the pre-internet, old-fashioned way of identifying your sexuality...remember back to your own sexual awakening...when that first boy quickened your heartbeat, tied your tongue in knots and had demented butterflies dancing in your stomach...and, in the privacy of your own room, who did you think of?!? 

Well, this is a contemporary telling of that old-fashioned tale...it's just got a little younger, less misunderstood and, by keeping that bamboozling gender nonsense out of it...it becomes a beautiful thing to witness.

Trailer...