Beyond the Walls (2012) User Reviews

Outside the Walls (the correct translation of the title) there's not much freedom

[markaaron-97974 · 8/10 · 4 June 2018]

According to the director, this is his "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg", a film about what happens when a madly-in-love couple is forcibly separated by a bad turn of events. But it's really much more than that.

It's about the power dynamics in a relationship, and how they shift over time. It's about dominance and submission. It's about making choices. It's about freedom or the lack thereof.

What keeps it from being overly ponderous (though it does raise lots of questions) is way it focuses on the specifics of a rather dysfunctional relationship between a needy, waif-like, seemingly helpless young man desperate to be taken care of, and a seemingly more together toughened-by- life older man who at first doesn't take him seriously but then falls hard for his boyish, coquettish charm.

And then they're separated and they and we discover that they're not entirely who they seem to be and everything shifts.

The cinematography is suitably gritty and sharp, while the acting of the two leads is superb. These are very flawed characters but we don't care and we fall in love with them anyway, the way they fall in love with each other.

The ending is realistic and a bit sad, but not tragic. We all come away a little wiser, but just a little, as this is not Hollywood, after all, thank god.

Good, not great, but good

[ekeby · 6/10 · 10 February 2014]

I have to disagree with the other review here (and at the time I write this, there's only one), Weekend is a much better movie than Beyond the Walls. I see the similarities, but this is far more complex than Weekend.

Not nuanced, mind you, complex. With Weekend, I felt I really knew the two principle characters well, warts and all. They were lifelike and real.

These characters are somewhat one-dimensional. Despite the life changes made by Paolo, the young guy, I didn't really understand him fully. More of a back story on him might have helped me understand how he goes from conflicted, to needy, to clingy, to obsessed, to victim, to detached, all in the space of a year. Which is entirely possible, but unlikely in a first-world early-20s-something.

And, evidently, he only knows two gay people, both older men. We only see him in the first scene with contemporaries (and they abandon him, so are they really friends?) except for his girlfriend. And all we learn about their relationship is that she's finally had enough of his sleeping with men.

And, I know it sounds petty, but it bothered me that I didn't know how Paolo was earning a living. That isn't revealed until half-way into the movie. I found it a distraction, wondering if it was a plot point. He uses an inhaler frequently in the first part of the movie, so I wondered if he was on disability. We don't see the inhaler in the second part of the movie, so maybe that's meant to signify he's more comfortable with the life choices he's made? If so, that's a LOT to hang on an inhaler.

His first lover, Ilir, is a little more sketched out, but I wasn't convinced that he was the kind of person who would have succumbed so quickly to the petulance and coquetry of Paolo, particularly when the aforementioned's "charms" were at least partly motivated by his needing a place to stay. The second lover, the owner of a gay sex shop, is about as flat a character as you'll ever meet.

If you sketch out the plot line on paper, it makes sense, and is plausible. But I don't think the movie makes the sell. Still, I wasn't bored, and was curious to see how things resolved. I did not quite buy the ending, but again, I could see how it might happen.

This is an above-average movie, and many may like it. But for me, it was no Weekend. By far.

interesting

[drazenko2312 · 8/10 · 4 October 2021]

Definitely worth watching. Creative, funny, sad. It's good that they made one of the guys Albanian. I'm a Croat but we don't often see too many Balkan actors in lgbt movies. I was happy to see that.

A risky, brilliant, beautiful, intensely passionate movie

[jm10701 · 10 February 2014]

Beyond the Walls is the beautiful, erotic and powerful story of an almost pathologically needy young man named Paulo, his encounters with two much stronger men, and how those experiences change his life.

There are none of the stereotypical characters, florid melodrama and boringly predictable plot clichés that cripple most gay movies. From their initial meeting in a bar, Paulo and Ilir jump quickly into a relationship of such intense passion and tenderness that it makes all other gay movies look like The Love Boat. But from that point on, nothing anybody does fits our Hollywood-conditioned expectations of what these characters ought to do. They all change, but never in ways we expect them to.

The movie is never either predictable or gimmicky, and every scene rings true. Best of all is Matila Malliarakis's astonishing, courageous and brilliant performance as Paulo. Everything about this movie is excellent - the writing, direction, photography, music, and all the actors - but without Malliarakis it would be just a good movie. He makes it spectacular.

Giaume Gioux is talented

[rome1-595-390251 · 7/10 · 8 June 2014]

OK, I am gay so this movie I can evaluate---first it rings very true....of course things are exaggerated here and there for artistic emphasis.

Paulo's clinging guarantees to kill off the beginning love relation with Ilir you feel like giving him advice constantly....no no don't do that! Play a littlehard to get...

Paulo you feel is essentially helpless in a likable way but still quite creepy with the S&M stuff. Ilir is the only normal character---he did not lead Paulo on but used him a little in a fix.

The movie is a downer but very real...I was never involved in S&M always considered the chubbies and bald old trolls dressed up in leather and chains as a form of drag...a fakery of some kind.

In the end it is obvious Ilir has HIV and you feel like shouting at Paulo God don't touch him...then they get drunk...and you know a disaster will happen but it doesn't.

Guillaume is nice looking the movie Nobody Else But You is a lot better it is a comedy with lots of incidental gay characters including himself again watch it instead.....downer gay movies are not my thing.

Still for that genre this is different and entertaining and never boring.

The movie is already a bit dated...I live in Colorado and pot hash etc.. is legal now. Should have used cocaine or heroin for Ilir's buzz preference.

RECOMMEND

Completely dysfunctional

[cekadah · 6/10 · 27 November 2016]

I think Drector/writer David Lambert wrote and directed this weird story to appeal to those that have fun masturbating to needy and cruel fantasies!

Look at the cast - two beautiful men both lost and directionless here in this story. They find each other and it's a downward spiral from there. One is so needy he gives into self destructive behavior just for attention and the other one is just incomprehensible. Just like this movie!

There are other reviews here that praise this movie with words like - beautiful, adore, realistic, brilliant. I failed to see that. I found the movie, first, a bit silly, and second, wandering.

Simply beautiful...

[bismark-bm · 10/10 · 3 June 2014]

One of the best TRUE-Love stories I've seen in movies! The film felt very real, and that's why I ADORED IT!!! Everything was fantastic... From the origin and discovery of love, the heartbreak and then the rebirth of love.

These are the types of movies that make you believe in true-love, and not a far-fetched version of it, a very tangible one.

I truly recommend this feature. I'm really glad that I found it!!! And the script was very good too, the acting was marvelous, that you really believe in them.

:D 10/10.

A beautiful love story.. Very realistic

[firoz-aboobaker · 9/10 · 12 April 2014]

I watched the movie with no much expectation! It turned out to be one of my favorite movies. There are only four characters in the movie ! All of them did their part really well, Especially Paulo. The ending was very beautifully directed i had tears in my eyes ! This movie explains how complicated love is. Even though you want someone, it is not easy to be with him. As the other reviewer said,the story is not at all similar to "Weekend". Only Similarity is, the main characters meeting in a bar for the first time! other than that i cannot see any similarity in the story. Beyond the walls is much complicated love story.

Morose and depressing

[BILLYBOY-10 · 3/10 · 19 June 2014]

Boyish boy-man hooks up with manly man and they are in love till man man goes away on a music gig and never returns, whereupon the boy man cries and is in solitude. Soon we realize the man man was busted for trying to bring hash across a border and got into a fight with a cop and is in jail or prison for 18 months. Boy boy goes to seen him and they cry. Man man asks boy man to sneak some dope into prison, which the fool does. Meanwhile boy man is hooking up with adult bookstore guy who handcuffs, blindfolds and gags him then attach's apparently electrodes to his nipples. We need this, somehow. Then man man gets out of jail and by now boy man is totally boy man toy to the adult bookstore guy and obviously boy man is not going to hook up with man man again but he agrees to go to a hotel (340 euros on boy man credit card) They get in the room, undress and boy man refuses man mans advances. Why bother Not economical, could have been 40 minutes long but we need a lot of useless footage to fill it out. I don't need to see and hour and a half of dark sorrow. I pass.

Beautiful, romantic and extremely sad movie

[afuri-kurage · 10/10 · 14 November 2014]

What can I say? I watched it because Matilla (Paulo's actor) but I didn't expect that the movie would be this wonderful! (cant help since many gay-theme movies are really plain) I laughed, smiled, and cried a lot. The story isn't the only best thing here because the actors (especially Matilla) have done perfect job. It's sad there's much movie of him around (he's more a TV star I think). This is highly recommended for those who're into gay movie. thought I hate the ending, since its really sad but hey, just watch it! Don't worry, this isn't porn, you wont see and genital here, just a soft romantic gay movie and you wont find awesome gay themed movie like this everyday.