Fourteen minutes is not a great length of time to tell a whole story. So the director and writer, Marco van Bergen, simply takes a single issue, that of a great "what if", "if only I hadn't turned away", "if only I hadn't hesitated", and follows that idea from the position of a young Englishman staying in Sweden. While the film suffers from the same problems faced by many gay filmmakers of gay themes, namely that of low budgets restricting the scope of the work, the end result is aided by the fact that a 'localised emotion' (if the reader comprehends such a notion) need be dealt with only in a localised setting. (Note the emotional impact of Hitchcock's "Rear Window" or Natali's "Cube", neither of which goes beyond a very limited geography.) Vattnet (Water) will not make it as one of the great gay short film stories, but it is a pleasant observation of a moment that most of us in our earlier, and definitely 'clumsier' years will remember all too well. Aided by a competent filming style and competent acting, and this cannot be a waste of a useful 14 minutes.
5 Reviews
meeting
Vincentiu19 March 2013
Warning: Spoilers
two boys. a hotel. summer. a gesture. two different worlds. and a meeting. at first sigh, a movie about nothing. only broken solitude of a boy out of social circle. and a short dialog with a stranger who represents more than part of a fascination. like many short films, Vattnet is only a drop. or seed. or crumb from a large picture. but its message is profound. not only about ambiguous definition of stranger, not about ambiguous feelings of a teenager but about a fact as root for life. because all is suggestion. drawing. and story created by look of a boy , as part of a flag. it is beautiful. this is only honest verdict. and delicate manner to introduce an ordinary theme not as exception but as slice of life.
Does not make any sense (again)
Horst_In_Translation29 July 2016
Warning: Spoilers
"Vattnet" or "Water" is a Dutch 14-minute short film from 2012, so it will have its 5th anniversary next year. The writer and director is Marco van Bergen and this is his very first work as a filmmaker. He is still very active and prolific today and this one we have here is not his only gay-themed short film either. Here we have a story about a teenager who lives pretty secluded and is fairly lonely. But luckily for him, a Swedish soccer player has an injury near his house and he takes him in. Still need more coincidence? The protagonist is gay and the soccer player is in the closet too apparently. Oh well.. Why is it that these gay-themed short films always have to be completely unrealistic, just to construct something remotely similar to a love story, but never forgetting to display all these obstacles to us that the protagonists have to go through because of their sexuality. Guess what? Homosexuality is absolutely tolerated in the 21st century and I believe the only thing that keeps homophobia alive are bad films like this one here. Watch something else instead. At least van Bergen improved slightly with his follow-up project.
girl....
therealbeltagi13 March 2022
delicate
Kirpianuscus27 August 2016
like many short films, it suggest. giving few elements to the viewer for create his version of story. and its identity. because it is a film about loneliness , family, secrets and truth about yourself and refuge in personal universe, temptation and a meeting who could change all. and, in essence, this is the great virtue of film. to give paths and not ways. to explore the clash between different boys. for the touching - mysterious end. for the high level of delicacy used for define a special contact. Vattnet has the strange status to be memorable against its not comfortable simplicity. because the absence of dialogues in large part of it , the possibility to see it as a form of parable are the good points who saves an ordinary story about sexual identity. and , sure, the delicate images.
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