Gewoon Vrienden (Just Friends)

Gewoon Vrienden (Just Friends), dir. Ellen Smit, 2018 Netherlands, 80 minutes, in Dutch with English subtitles
Wednesday, June 20, 9:15 p.m. Castro • INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE
Sunday, June 24, 4:00 p.m. Castro

Gewoon Vrienden (Just Friends)
Joris (left) and Yad (right)

Joris (Josha Stradowski, left) and Yad (Majd Mardo, right) are from very different backgrounds, but their paths cross when Yad goes to work cleaning for Joris’s grandmother. Grandma plays matchmaker, and things start off swimming­ly, but both Joris’s and Yad’s mothers tend to have strong opinions about the guys their sons are dating. The issue is never “Eek! My son is gay!!” but simply “Is this guy good enough for my son?” Issues of each young man’s career path and other parental drama come into play, but both families accept their sons’ sexu­ality as a given.

Stradowski and Mardo are both easy on the eyes, and there are some steamy scenes between them (though nothing beyond a soft R), but there is more here than just eye candy. Joris and Yad are both feeling their way through defining themselves and the paths they want to follow in life, and the journey keeps the audience engaged. Definitely a MUST SEE.

A couple of footnotes for American audiences: the title in Dutch is pronounced something like khǝ-vōn frēndǝ, and the town is Almere, located just across the IJmeer from Amsterdam and yet a very different place.

• IMDb • official website (in Dutch and English) • trailer (in Dutch without subtitles) •