Gewoon vrienden

I really quite enjoyed this - it's a gentle romance in the truest sense of the word - and the two lead performances have much to commend them. "Yad" (Majd Marko - surely a long lost Jonas brother?) takes a job keeping an eye on an elderly lady "Ans" (Jenny Arean) who has a cute grandson "Joris" (Josha Stradowski). She is pretty complicit in getting the two to hookup, and after a brief courting period... What makes this fun is that there are no family issues around their open sexuality. Sure, "Yoris" and his rich, widowed mum have issues - but they have nothing to do with his sexuality and "Yad", is maybe a bit restless but again, no real psychological or emotion baggage to muddy the simplicity of the drama. There's a slightly contrived contretemps between the boys which though a bit unnecessary, it does serve to focus the second part of the film as the threads begin to reconcile. It's a young love story, it doesn't have - insofar as I could spot - any subliminal moral or political messages; indeed, in many ways it typifies the pretty laid back approach the Dutch take to just about everything. It's charming, and it made me smile - old cynic, that I am...!