Faith Akin's best movie so far, better than Berlin-Winner Against the Wall. The story is really romantic: three guys with different ethnic roots are best friends and bestow meaning to each other's lives. They are very physical, they kiss and hug their friends and relatives, they live fast and they fight like primates. They have their dreams, their loves and most of all they are ridden by their idea of honor. This honor is very Mediterranean: it is flexible and spares one's ideals even if the deeds one must go through would ruin them. The guys love each other, fiercely, as if they were one person in three bodies. They also behave like one person: quarrels they have are presented as if being some inner wars of someone who is very sensitive and honest. This film, however, lacks all the syrupy sentimentalism we know from American equivalents. The guys are real flesh, their tears are salty and they don't feel sorry for themselves.
Review of Short Sharp Shock
