A Moment in the Reeds [DVD]

“A Moment in the Reeds” is a magnificent piece of work, touching and heartfelt with some of the most beautifully captured moments between two people that I have seen in quite a long while. The artists and craftsmen responsible for creating this excellent picture show their talents clearly and with their belief that this story could be as tenderly and openly captured and presented as we see it. Why can’t American filmmakers get this level of touching reality on film like European filmmakers do?The story is a true slice out of any gay person’s past, so witnessing what has gone before in Leevi’s childhood and before moving to Paris and the happenings between his parents he left behind will ring true to most. While Tareq’s story is much the same, coming from Syria has deeper levels of hurt and shame connected to his family and past.The story comes together when Leevi comes home intent to gather materials for his upcoming thesis for graduation from university. His father has begun falling on harder times and is repairing the summer cottage preparing it for sale to help financially. He has hired a helper through an agency to help with the repairs and convinces his son to also help while he is home.All of the problems between generations, and the resentments that have ensued, are exposed here with truthfully open detail, making it more accurate to us who are watching....dare I say that we are feeling or reliving our own uneasinesses we have suffered through ourselves.Problems arise at his business and the dad must go back to town to iron them out and while gone our story develops into the tenderest love story between two men I’ve ever seen on film.Of course no matter what is happening at any one time life goes on and it does here, growing and developing, and naturally people’s old hurts, resentments, biases, get brought to the forefront again with the same effect as previously experienced.If possible I would rate “A Moment in the Reeds” 10 stars because it is so carefully shot and acted, with perfect tenderness and beauty and 100% believability. Most highly recommended! Well worth your time and investing your heart in for two hours! You will be deeply moved.

It's always been my opinion that works of art usually reflect some auto biographical slice of the author's life, remotely or somehow. As a result, we experience and shared our lives with others in order to cleanse, share, or even ventilate that experience from deep within us somehow. Who knows? However, I'd like to think that I am mature and knowledgeable enough to accept that my life and the lives of other don't or won't necessarily turn out the way I want...'when I became a man, I put away childish things."This film could have been a wonderful romantic love story, and in fact, it is until the 15 minutes of the film, but it not and Life does not alway serve us up what we want, expect, or often deserve. It serves up Life.The two main male leads are attractive enough, the incidents leading to their union and extremely heated, sexual romps are films with beauty, delicacy, and hotness. That they are both not Americans likely sits uncomfortable with most "ugly Americans' perception of difference is not surprise, and the influence of the father is strong and and foreboding from the beginning of the film...so why is the inevitable ending so hard to accept?Same gender loving couple have always had challenges and obstacles innately laid before them, it's the nature of the beast. Gay are 'others' unfortunately in this world, but I'd still rather view a slice of Life about people who's values, make-up, and natural instinct more resemble mine, even if the ending are not always "Happy" !

Another sad coming out movie, poorly written or dubbed. Very bad ending… Not romantic at all.

For a low budget film this was pretty good up until the ending. I thought the film ended quite abruptly without wrapping up any of the storylines. Still, I could identify with the characters and felt connected to the events taking place. The quality of the acting and filming was great. At times the audio was a bit difficult to hear over some of the sound effects but I most read the captions anyway so it wasn't too difficult to keep up. To the film makers and cast, good job and please make a sequel so I can find out what happens next.

This is one of those films that trickles out at the end. Very disappointing. However, the actual filmography is wonderful and sunsets are incredible. Acting is good but some of the conversations lack continuity; almost like they don'y remember their lines. The story is good but liek I said, no real emding.

I've seen so many movies lately with sparse dialogue & this was a much needed change of pace. I loved their conversations & the fact that they spoke to one another, but there was still some missed communication. This was well cast, well acted & a visually beautiful film. A happier end would have gotten it a full 5 stars, but it is called "A Moment in the Reeds" so I shouldn't have expected more than that & I'm just glad that it wasn't an ending where someone died. They still have a chance to reunite when tempers cool.

I enjoyed watching this, somehow knowing they would not live happily ever after, together. ("A Moment...." gives that away.) I enjoyed the dialogue and even the slow pace, the life like sex scenes were worth the wait and well done. But the abrupt ending seemed so unnecessary. Maybe I do not notice but straight romance movies do not seem to end this way, with just a cut to black. Thankfully we live in an age of cell phones and we can imagine these two talking and patching things up a bit soon after the credits rolled. No reason at all they should never see each other again, as the abrupt ending suggests.

Yes, this is a beautiful film. The two main men are beautiful and the Finnish countryside is beautiful, and it is beautifully written and acted. What it is not, however, is action-packed or fast-moving. It is a love poem, a slow meditation on the difficulties of connection between gay and straight, old and young, foreign and native, immigrant and emigrant. The film seduces you into hoping that these difficulties will be overcome, but inevitably at the end it is clear that they won't. The title summarises it well: a moment in the reeds is all these lads will have to remember in the future.

Three stars. One each for the, sensationally erotic, magnificent gay sex scenes! However there was NO happy ending. But, hey!, at least no one died. The film was slow. Far too slow. But the two lead guys were quite brilliant. First the darker guy tops the fair haired guy, then there’s a, what looked like, masturbation scene and finally the blonde guy tops the darker haired guy. And the kissing! Passionate is NOT the word for it! It goes far and away above and beyond passionate. This film definitely earns its 18 certificate. This film falls short of GoC because it leaves us, the audience, devastated by the lack of any possible hope of any kind of relationship between the two men. And, as previous reviewers mentioned, the subtitles are only for the Finnish. But GREAT gay sex scenes!

Although it said there were subtitles, the only subtitles were for any dialogue in Finnish. Most of the dialogue was in English, for which there were no subtitles & I found this difficult to hear & so mostly missed out about what was happening. For this reason, I have given it only 3 stars, but it seems to be a good film, with pleny of action, & is probavly worth 4 or 5 stars. I do not know why the dialogue between Leevi & Tareq is in English rather than in French, as Leevi has been living in Paris, & Tareq comes from Syria.

A Finnish student returns from Paris to spend the summer in a cottage with his dad who runs a truck company. He is gay but never told his father (who would not believe him either). The cottage needs repairing before it is going to be sold since truck business is slow and mother died. A Syrian asylumseeker who fled Syria for being gay and not telling his unaccepting family, an architect in his previous life, helps with the repairs. The two boys have a fling. But the Finnish boy goes back to Paris and the Syrian one doesn't want to throw away his new future in Finland.You see both boys move closer and then distancing themselves. A moment in the reeds.

I saw an advertisement to this movie a while ago and have wanted to see it ever since. It was absolutely beautiful. Both actors played their parts well and the actor who plays ‘Tariq’ is beautiful and perfect for the roll. The first sex scene was ‘HOT’. I’m not easily pleased but it was done so well, it felt like you were really in the room with them. The only thing to complain about is the ending. I wish there was a happy ending. But I’m just an old fashioned romantic. Lol. 😂