Eastern Boys

The term "melodrama" is rarely used as a compliment, but writer/director Robin Campillo goes some way to reclaiming it with this four-act saga that switches tone and direction with assurance. Well-heeled Parisian 50-something Daniel (Olivier Rabourdin) shows reckless naivety in picking up Ukrainian rent boy Marek (Kirill Emelyanov) at the Gare du Nord and inviting him back to his plush apartment, only to be interrupted by a gang led by Russian thug Daniil Vorobyev. They strip the place bare during a superbly staged "party"sequence, with the camera cavorting to the soundtrack's pounding electronica. But this is only the start of a story that takes another twist when Marek returns to keep his date with Daniel and his illegal status becomes another threat to their hesitant romance. As in his scripts with Laurent Cantet (The Class), Campillo exposes the chasms between classes, races and generations with acerbic skill, but he also coaxes superb performances out of his leads, while his control over both locale and atmosphere is exemplary.