Romeos (2011)

A drama centered on the relationship between a young man and a transsexual who is transitioning from female to male.

Director:

Sabine Bernardi

Writer:

Sabine Bernardi (screenplay)

Stars:

Rick Okon, Maximilian Befort, Liv Lisa Fries

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Rick Okon	...	Lukas Leonhard
Maximilian Befort	...	Fabio
Liv Lisa Fries	...	Ine
Felix Brocke	...	Sven
Silke Geertz	...	Pflegedienstleiterin Annette Kappmann
Gilles Tschudi	...	Herr Boeken
Ben Gageik	...	Svens Freund
Sigrid Burkholder	...	Lukas' Mutter
Johannes Schwab	...	Lukas' Vater
Tessa Lukat	...	Leila
Katrin Heß	...	Pflegemädchen Jessy
Julia Schäfle	...	Blondie
Juliane Knoppek	...	Jaqueline
Kenny Michels	...	Bloggercommunity #1
Carmelo Messina	...	Bloggercommunity #2

Storyline

Twenty year old Lukas (Rick Okon) is a female to male (FTM) Transsexual man, taking the steps through his gender reassignment treatment. His friendship with Ine (Liv Lisa Fries), who is lesbian, is making the changes and assimilation easier. Lukas sees his romantic world open up for him as Ine introduces him to gay life in Cologne. As he becomes more and more interested in a local gay boy (Maximilian Befort), things are getting more and more complicated. Should Lukas tell this boy who he really is?

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Plot Keywords:

gay | friendship | gender | gender reassignment | lesbian | 

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Taglines:

How do you love someone, if you don't show who you are?

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

Germany

Language:

German English Italian

Release Date:

8 December 2011 (Germany)

Also Known As:

Romeos ...anders als du denkst!

Filming Locations:

Cologne, North Rhine - Westphalia, Germany

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$773 (USA) (16 September 2011)

Gross:

$773 (USA) (16 September 2011)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Boogiefilm, Das Kleine Fernsehspiel (ZDF), Filmstiftung Nordrhein-Westfalen

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min 96 min (DVD)

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Goofs

Between 1:12 and 1:13, when Lukas is cleaning his room, you see the red "z" with it's dot above (like an upside-down question mark) on the balcony screen. When Fabio sits down on the window sill, the "z" has disappeared (only the dot stays), and it appears again afterwards.

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Soundtracks

"I Am A Poor Wayfaring Stranger"
Performed by Andreas Scholl
Arranged by Craig Leon

User Reviews

Excellent!

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.