Eastern Boys **** (2013, Olivier Rabourdin, Kirill Emelyanov) – Movie Review

Tense and twisty but realistic and raunchy, this is an excellent French gay thriller from writer-director Robin Campillo.

Olivier Rabourdin stars as Daniel Muller, a discreet gay man in his late fifties who has his eye on Marek (Kirill Emelyanov), one of the Eastern boy prostitutes who hang around the Gare du Nord train station in Paris looking for punters.

He foolishly gives his suburban apartment home address to the young man, who agrees to come visit Muller the following day at his place. But, when the doorbell rings, Muller doesn’t have the faintest idea that he has fallen into a trap. This thriller set up is chillingly done, and leads to endless further complications as the deception story gives way to an illegal immigrant and then to a love story. The first half hour plays like a documentary of Gare du Nord rent boys, which gives the film’s story its kick-start of credibility.

You can question the hero’s actions as often as you like, and ask why he never calls the cops, but everything he does is logical and probable, making the thriller plot work credibly and satisfyingly. If the nail-biting finish recalls Pour Elle (Anything for Her, 2008), then that’s a very good thing.

© Derek Winnert 2015 Movie Review

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