Paths

German filmmaker Chris Miera's first feature film, "Paths" - which he produced, directed, co-wrote, and even served as director of photography - is a sublimely understated drama and a refreshing look at the way a relationship can unfold despite the fact that the love is not lost, just misplaced.

Economically shot in a remote village on the forbidding Baltic Coast, it is the tale of thirty-something-year old furniture designer Andreas (Mike Hoffmann), who falls in love with Martin (Mathis Reinhardt), who runs the local florist shop. Joining them is Andreas' six year old son Max (Tom B�ttcher), who they take in to live with them when his mother suddenly dies. They are a very un-showy couple, opting for a simple life where the annual highlight is a vacation at the seaside in the heart of winter. They are, however, very much in love and show all the tenderness and warmth that comes when you believe that you have finally found your soul mate.

Miera shows how the couple's lives progress over the next fifteen years in a neat series of flashbacks (and forwards), and how they adjust to their changing fortunes. There is a time when Andreas's workshop is struggling financially, and this coincides with Martin being offered the chance of buying the florist store. Sadly, as he doesn't have access to any real money, he has to pass up on the opportunity, and now, unemployed, struggles to find another job. When he does, it involves a great deal of traveling; as a result, their relationship ends up being mainly conducted via Skype.

There are no major melodramas through the years, just the fact that that couple's intimate moments become more scarce as both men struggle with the reality of growing apart. Their anguish is very real; finally, they must make a decision of how this should play out without them losing sight of why they fell in love in the first place.

Despite, or because of, its simplicity, the story is a very compelling. Theirs is a mature gay relationship that is easy to relate to, yet rarely featured on the big screen, especially when the camera seems to hold back somewhat giving the actors enough space to show the remarkable chemistry that the two of them possess.

"Paths" is a unique movie in not just its approach on how to tell these two men's love story, but the way it is executed. We end up feeling real pride at the way they make the right choice in the end.

Unmissable.

"Paths"
DVD
$19,99
http://tlareleasing.com/films/paths/