''Summer Storm'' () is a 2004 German

coming-of-age Coming of age is a young person's transition from being a child to being an adult. The specific age at which this transition takes place varies between societies, as does the nature of the change. It can be a simple legal convention or can b ...

comedy-drama Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...

film directed by

Marco Kreuzpaintner Marco Johann Kreuzpaintner (born 11 March 1977) is a German film director, screenwriter, showrunner and executive producer. He is known for his gay coming-of-age feature film ''Summer Storm (2004 film), Summer Storm'', the critical acclaimed Netfl ...

, starring

Robert Stadlober Robert Stadlober (born 3 August 1982) is an Austrian actor and musician. Life and career Robert Stadlober was born in Friesach in the Austrian province of Carinthia, and grew up in Puchfeld in the Steiermark (Austria) and in Berlin (Germany). A ...

Kostja Ullmann Kostja Ullmann (born 30 May 1984) is a German actor, best known for his leading role in the award-winning coming of age drama '' Sommersturm'' (''Summer Storm'') which gained a lot of praise throughout Europe. Life and career Ullmann was born i ...

Alicja Bachleda-Curuś Alicja Bachleda-Curuś (pron. ; born 12 May 1983) is a Polish actress and singer who has appeared in films including ''Trade'', '' Ondine'' and ''Pan Tadeusz''. Early life Bachleda-Curuś was born in Tampico, Mexico. She is the daughter of Li ...

, and Miriam Morgenstern. The story is set to the background of a rowing

regatta Boat racing is a sport in which boats, or other types of watercraft, race on water. Boat racing powered by oars is recorded as having occurred in ancient Egypt, and it is likely that people have engaged in races involving boats and other wa ...

, which climaxes into a summer storm.

Plot

Teams from all across Germany descend on a quiet camping ground for a week of training leading up to a final rowing competition. The plot follows the members of the RSC rowing club from southern Germany as they train for the regatta. The boys are excited by the prospects of camping with a female rowing team from Berlin. However, by a stroke of fate, the Berlin girls' team cancels and is replaced by Queerschlag ("Queerstrokes"), a gay youth rowing team, and these boys are out, proud, and vocal about it. Amidst the occasionally tense interactions between the members of his team and those of Queerschlag, Tobi is himself forced to confront his long-time feelings for his close friend and teammate Achim, who is already romantically involved with his girlfriend Sandra. Spurned by Achim, Tobi is devastated, but is partly consoled by his new friendship with Queerschlag member Leo. The tension between the members of the two teams culminates in a scene set to the backdrop of a summer storm, during which Leo confronts Tobi about his homosexuality in front of his teammates. Tobi denies being

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...

, and, in an attempt to defend him, one of his teammates tells Tobi's girlfriend Anke to tell the rest of his teammates so. Anke, the only person to whom Tobi has confided his secret, remains silent. Ultimately, Tobi

comes out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBTQ people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. This is often framed and debated as a privacy issue, ...

to his teammates and his rowing team, who seem to accept Tobi no matter what, and they go on to compete with Queerschlag in the final regatta.

Cast

as Tobi *

as Achim *

as Anke * Miriam Morgenstern as Sandra * Jürgen Tonkel as Hansi * Tristano Casanova as Georg *

Marlon Kittel Marlon Kittel (born December 11, 1983, in Essen) is a German actor. Life and work Marlon Kittel started working for the film industry as a Stunt double, stuntman for the German TV series ''Der Clown'' before he was discovered as an actor. Sinc ...

as Leo *

Hanno Koffler Hanno Koffler (born March 25, 1980) is a German actor and musician. His most famous films include '' Summer Storm'', '' Krabat'' and ''Free Fall''. He also starred in the Oscar-nominated film, ''Never Look Away'' (2018), directed by Florian Henc ...

as Malte *

Ludwig Blochberger Ludwig Blochberger (born 3 December 1982) is a German actor. He is best known for his appearance in the coming of age movie '' Summer Storm'' dealing with issues around sexual orientation. He also appeared on German TV drama programmes including ...

as Oli *Alexa Maria Surholt as Susanne * as Ferdinand "Ferdi"

Critical reception

''Summer Storm'' received mixed reviews, currently holding a 48% rating on review aggregator website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

based on 31 reviews. On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, the film has a 51/100 rating, signifying "mixed or average reviews". According to Dennis Harvey of ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'', the film have "…psychologically sharp writing and performances". Michael Wilmington of ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...

'' said that "''Summer Storm'' is a contemporary teen summer romance with a modern sexual twist" and "believable characters". Steve Murray of ''

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' (''AJC'') is an American daily newspaper based in metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia. It is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the result of the merger ...

'' "''Summer Storm'' nicely captures the awkward confusion of first-time sexual encounters (gay or straight) and the collateral wounds caused by deceiving others and oneself". German website ''Kabeleins'' praised the film for being "beautifully produced" and actors as "very authentically played". London-based branch of '' Time Out'' wrote that "...the story's main strength lies in its characters..."

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media In mass communication, digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, vi ...

's Alexander Ryll called the film "An observant and sensitively played drama about adolescent sexuality, unrequited love and heartbreak", while Kevin Thomas of ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' said that "Kreuzpaintner displays a natural gift with actors and a clarity in storytelling that result in a fresh take on what otherwise might have been a familiar coming-of-age story." Ella Taylor of ''

LA Weekly ''LA Weekly'' is a free weekly alternative newspaper in Los Angeles, California. The paper covers music, arts, film, theater, culture, and other local news in the Los Angeles area. ''LA Weekly'' was founded in 1978 by Jay Levin (among others), ...

'' also commented on the film, calling it "A lovely wallow in the sweaty pains and joys of mostly gay adolescent love".

Accolades

*''Summer Storm'' received the audience award of the

Filmfest München The Munich International Film Festival () is the largest summer film festival in Germany and second only in size and importance to the Berlinale. It has been held annually since 1983 and takes place in late June or early July. It presents fe ...

2004. *Director (Marco Kreuzpaintner), New Faces Award, Germany, 2005 *Best Young Actor – Film (Robert Stadlober)

Soundtrack

The soundtrack contains the smash hit "Willkommen" from the album ''

Herz Herz is the German word for ''heart''. It may refer to: * Herz (surname) * Herz Bergner (1907–1970), Polish-born Australian novelist * Herz Cerfbeer of Medelsheim (1730–1793), French Jewish philanthropist * Herz., author abbreviation of Germa ...

'' by the German duo

Rosenstolz Rosenstolz () was a German Pop music, pop duo from Berlin that was active between 1991 and 2012 and had chart hits in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The duo consisted of singer AnNa R. and musician Peter Plate, who occasionally provided ...

; the single made the German Top 10 charts in September 2004. #"Blonde on Blonde" by

Nada Surf Nada Surf is an American alternative rock band formed in New York City in 1992, consisting of Matthew Caws (guitar, vocals), Ira Elliot (drums), and Daniel Lorca (bass, backing vocals). After initially operating under the name Helicopter, Caw ...

#"Shake the Foundation" by Radio 4 #"Willkommen" by

#"Los, Wixen" by

Niki Reiser Niki Reiser (born 12 May 1958) is a Swiss film score composer and flautist. He is considered one of the most outstanding film composers of the German-speaking countries, winning the German Film Award five times. His debut was in 1986 the score for ...

#"Auf ins Bergische" by Niki Reiser #"We'll Never Know" by Roman Fischer #"Maltes Kuss" by Niki Reiser #"Flames" by

VAST VAST is an American alternative rock band based in Seattle, United States. The acronym VAST stands for Visual Audio Sensory Theater and is the main creation of singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Jon Crosby. The band is signed to 2blo ...

#"Verwirrt" by Niki Reiser #"Achim" by Niki Reiser #"Getaway" by Roman Fischer #"Jim's Theme" by Niki Reiser #"

Coming Out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBTQ people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. This is often framed and debated as a privacy issue, ...

" by

#"Catch Me" by Kerosin #"We Oh We" by

The Hidden Cameras The Hidden Cameras are a Canadian indie pop band. Fronted by singer-songwriter Joel Gibb, the band consists of a varying roster of musicians who play what Gibb once described as "gay church folk music". Their live performances have been elaborat ...

#"Crooked Lines" by

The Go-Betweens The Go-Betweens were an Australian indie rock band formed in Brisbane, Queensland, in 1977. The band was co-founded and led by singer-songwriters and guitarists Robert Forster (musician), Robert Forster and Grant McLennan, who were its only co ...

For Lovers "For Lovers" is the debut single by Peter Wolfe (musician), Wolfman featuring Pete Doherty. The single reached No. 7 in the UK singles chart. In 2005 the song was nominated for an Ivor Novello Award for songwriting. Track listing CD # "For L ...

" by Wolfman/

Pete Doherty Peter Doherty (born 12 March 1979) is an English musician. He is best known for being co-frontman of the Libertines, which he formed with Carl Barât in 1997. His other musical projects are indie rock, indie bands Babyshambles and Peter Dohert ...

#" The Power of Love" by

Frankie Goes to Hollywood Frankie Goes to Hollywood were an English pop band that formed in Liverpool in 1980. They comprised Holly Johnson (vocals), Paul Rutherford (backing vocals), Mark O'Toole (bass), Brian Nash (guitar) and Peter Gill (drums). Johnson and Ruther ...

#"Sommersturm" by Niki Reiser #"The Summer We Had" by Nova International #"Go West" by Nova International

References

External links

* * *
Ruderverein QueerSchlag
{{DEFAULTSORT:Summer Storm 2004 romantic comedy-drama films 2000s coming-of-age comedy-drama films 2004 independent films 2004 LGBTQ-related films 2000s teen comedy-drama films 2000s teen romance films Coming-of-age romance films Films about sexual repression Films directed by Marco Kreuzpaintner Gay-related films German romantic comedy-drama films German coming-of-age comedy-drama films German independent films German teen LGBTQ-related films German sports comedy-drama films Films about juvenile sexuality LGBTQ-related romantic comedy-drama films LGBTQ-related coming-of-age comedy-drama films LGBTQ-related sports comedy-drama films Rowing films 2000s sports comedy-drama films Films about summer camps Teen sports films 2000s German films Films scored by Niki Reiser