Too much of everything

People are voting emotionally.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

With little preamble, four young adults go to live in an isolated country cottage and unleash their imaginations and libidos. I am not sure what this film is trying to say, but I understand how it is being said.This is a stylish film, filled with pastoral scenes of solitude and contemplation. The four are initially guarded and awkward, but as time passes, they organically grow as a foursome, granting each other permission to experiment and unleash they childish impulses for fun. As the days and nights unfold, the lines between reality and fantasy/pretend become blurred. Ultimately, they must learn to trust each other if their experiment is to continue.This film might have been titled "polyamorous", given the nature of their relationship after weeks of intimate seclusion. It is primarily a series of vignettes, providing glimpses into their evolving four-person relationship. They achieve some measure of freedom from social conventions, but the experiment is open-ended.

Let's take a look at the positive. This is or could be perceived as a master class in acting. The movie itself seems to be free of restrictions (and clothes for that matter) and you should be aware of the nudity. There is no visible penetration by the way, but you do have male self pleasuring (explicit and vivid).Having stated that (in Germany the movie still got the 16+ rating), that should not play a role for or against the movie. The characters have issues which become even more apparent during a visit from the "outside". Their circle is clear and somewhat stagnant, this outside influence kind of gives the movie a bit of a new edge, but nothing that is sustained. We get back to the old "craziness". Which may be the point of the movie, but does not make it more attractive or viewers more excited to watch it (if you'll excuse the pun)

Joanna Coate's Hide and Seek is an ode to beauty. Grace is everywhere, whether it be in the cinematography, the story, the characters or the actors. The same way the characters in the film defy society by creating their own little utopia, the film generally defies our expectations regarding modern cinema. Coates has done away with the conventional plot. There is no beginning, no middle, no end to the story. She has done away with the socially-dictated faultless images of the body. Beauty in this movie can be found as much in its perfection as a unique picture, as in its deliberate imperfection.Constructed around the central themes of nature, boundaries of intimacy, social non-conformism and freedom, Hide and Seek will leave you reflective. In our busy lives, few are the times we allow ourselves to escape reality and question things society has taught us to internalize. Could we be capable of undertaking the protagonists' journey? Would we be willing? What do we owe society that we shouldn't just seek to create our own utopias?These are some pretty profound questions, yet there is something to be said about the softness of the film. A plot so uncomplicated, a setting so peaceful and stripped of business, the fact that most of the scenes happen in a small perimeter in and around the same house make for a pure, distilled, easy to watch film. Hide and Seek is a triumph of artistry in that it glistens beauty through simplicity, and perfection through difference.

"Hide and Seek" is a tale of 4 young adults, who chose to move to the countryside, live in nature, share everything, be perfectly equal and free.The two boys and two girls find innocent ways of entertaining each other and making the weeks pass, as if they want to reduce life to an infinite melancholic childhood experience. This concept of pure escapism also involves the protagonists loving each other equally. The movie does not hold back on displaying sex and sexuality and it requires an open mind to appreciate it."Hide and Seek" is certainly no commercial entertainment and the narrative as it is makes it feel more like an art project than a fictional movie, but for a first-length feature the director show her talent and the brave performances of the cast are impressive.