Save your money for something good and enjoyable

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

I have seen quite a few movies dealing with MTF trans, but rarely one dealing with FTM. So needless to say, I was very excited to see this. And sadly, I couldn't be anymore disappointed. This film feels like a straight up gay male film, thanks to a miscasting of epic proportions. While I'm sure Rick Okon is a fine actor, he has no business playing the role he was cast in. There are so many real transgendered actors and actresses out there, struggling to get work like the rest. And yet, they are denied roles that were basically made for them! It seems very hypocritical for a film that wants to express the struggle of being transgendered. They literally slapped prosthetic breasts on a biological male and called it a day. There are no nuances in Rick Okon's performance to give us any clue that we are watching a pre-op transgendered male struggling with his identity. Not even seeing his breasts can fool me into thinking for the briefest second that he is trans.On top of that, the story was sub par and resembles that of a cheap cliché gay romance flick more than anything. And even that's a stretch, as the romance here is so illogical and poorly done that I was actually irritated when they ended up together. His supposed love interest spends half the film taunting and teasing him, and otherwise humiliating him in public. And then suddenly a light bulb goes off in his head, and we're suddenly supposed to believe that he is instantly redeemed for his transgressions? I don't think so. It is incredibly fake, lacking any semblance of heart.I also have many objections to the portrayal of trans life and emotions. As a trans person myself, it saddened me to see how pertinent questions and issues were just glossed over to make the film a bit more easily digestible to hetero cis gendered viewers. In a perfect world, this film would clue in cis gendered people as to what many trans people experience and struggle with and feel, while making any fellow trans viewers feel a sense of solace and understanding. I don't expect every LGBT movie to be a "Boy's Don't Cry" style tragedy, but I do expect portrayals of LGBT issues to be respected. This film has no respect and no interest in portraying any issues or struggles a real transman faces in the world. Lukas is clearly struggling with his transition, and struggling to find his place in the world as a man who still has his female parts. Yet none of the film's events explore that. In fact, the film contradicts itself by not exploring those feelings, trading it in for cheap pseudo-conflict in the form of the mild teasing and taunting he faces. He is striving to be as masculine as possible, and yet the possible conflict he faces while being attracted to a man, which is by the general consensus of society considered "unmasculine", is never really even brought up. It is a simple, watered down portrayal of trans life that I would only recommend to cis heterosexuals that want to watch a film about a minority, without having to ponder their own beliefs and the harsh realities many trans people face everyday.It's more or less a gay film, with a lead who happens to be trans. It'd be a tad more excusable if there was at least some good drama or romance to be found. And there is not. This could have been an amazing film, and instead it is cheap and even mildly offensive.

It is becoming really scarce that an indie film has this kind of execution. Good actors, good dialogue, a plot that is like nothing else you've seen. The movie focuses on the identity crisis of a trans person, but then it shows you that the identity crisis, often isn't coming from the person themselves (they're actually pretty sure of what gender they belong to) but its the world who has the real crisis, the people around you, friends, family who are supposed to support you. The way the main character keeps fighting to find his place, it was heartbreaking and just really touching. We see the transformation too, and its just brilliant. I was completely amazed.

"Romeos"....is a Carefree title....a Fun title. BUT, buckle up your seatbelts and hold on tight....for the ride you're about to be taken on is, often, neither carefree nor fun. And why is that? Because, over and over, you'll be asking yourself: HOW is this young guy...this Rick Okon, from a little town in the Northeast fringes of Germany, able to drag us inch by inch by inch into all his emotional turmoil: Into his shyness...his physical discomfort...his fear of discovery...his beginnings of love? ....And while doing so with little more than his frequent arms-hugging-himself poses...his facial expressions...and those dark EYES. Well, the answer is just something you'll have to figure out after the trip. For each of us, it will have been different.But...forget the "HOW" we've just discussed. More important is the "WHAT"....for what we are being given here is a Near-Equal to the Oscar winning Best Actor performance in 1999's "Boys Don't Cry". That time, Hilary Swank......this time, a rising young German star. As the transgendering Lukas, Okon takes us along on an important part of his journey through the swirling emotions of Hormone Replacement Therapy. And on to complete physical transformation from female-to-male. BUT....in this film, unlike in others, the end goal is to find a same-sex (Male / Male) relationship. About which, please note the following:(( I can talk about this movie's particular sex-change circumstances in no better way than to paraphrase a quote by Reviewer, "nnenok from Slovenia" (here at IMDb.com): The MOST IMPORTANT lesson this film gives to us and to any already Transgendered-to-Male person (who is attracted to another Male) IS: ...Being attracted to a woman doesn't make you a man---but FEELING like a man does. )) So...maybe "Boys Don't Cry". Yet, perhaps at times, this film will bring you to the verge of doing so. For what we are seeing is a near breath-taking and heart wrenching performance (I often recall James Dean), about a young, transgendering German who has fallen for a macho Lover-Boy type. Yes, yes, Maximilian Befort, as Fabio, has a face and body which will keep your dreams HOT for days. A Lover-Boy?...sure. A Sex Bomb?...you bet. In fact, he's Sex on a Stick! YET, despite acting self-centered and forever off to the next conquest, his scenes with Lukas are always exciting ones...giving us a gut feel for the Fever which is building up between these 2, a Fever always tempered by fear of Fabio discovering the hidden transgendered condition.As to Fabio's side of this relationship, he is kept almost always off-balance, and in a perplexed state: Lukas being turned-on by Fabio...quickly followed by instances of Lukas shutting Fabio down. But, still, hard as it is to live with the emotional changes being thrown at him...Fabio does keep trying; he keeps coming back for more. (Leading to this Reviewer's opinion that Lukas has him hooked....letting the line out, then pulling it back--even if not always aware he's doing so).And so, I TRULY BELIEVE the ending lovemaking scene is giving us The Key to this relationship; oh, yes indeed, it is. BUT, that is not half as much as we are being told by the last few seconds shot, wherein we are watching through the lens of a digital camera...and seeing: A deliriously happy, and completely transgendered Lukas, taking off running into seaside sand dunes toward water's edge. Come on, now....STOP AND THINK about it! That CAN'T be all we're seeing. Because you know what? SOMEONE is holding that camera....You wanna take any bets as to WHO?Enjoy this Special Movie....And, thank you, Sabine.PS--And amidst all the turmoil...Thank Heavens for the occasional fun, lightness, and warm support given by terrific young actress, Liv Lisa Fries, as "Ine"...the B(Girl)FF of our Lukas during their growing-up years.****

I've literally just returned from the screening of this movie and it's in my opinion one of the best titles out there dealing with the topic of transsexuality and even homosexuality.What is important and what this movie does so well, is dealing with the topic so problematic for any transgendered person that was ever attracted to someone of the same gender; which is, how to explain to others that being attracted to a woman doesn't make you a man - but feeling like a man does. Rick Okon does an amazing job - up to googling him I couldn't find out whether he is male or female in real life (the perfectly done breasts confused me) and I'm ashamed that I was focusing on this so much because it just shows once more how binary-minded we are about sex and gender, even though this topic is personal to me. However - for not being transgendered himself, the actor really gets the pain, the frustration, everything that is behind the feeling of not fitting in such a basic category system.I was also pleased with the development of other characters. In a love story, a view-point (and actually the whole life) of someone's best friend can get easily overlooked and I like how they dealt with it. The role of Fabio was also great and the scene with the trans-girl singing was just beautiful.Basically, if this movie would go on for another two hours, I would keep staring.