Eastern Boys

Daniel (Rabourdin) gets a lot more than he bargained for when he spends an afternoon cruising a Parisian shopping centre for a teenage boy to bring home, and viewers sitting down to watch Eastern Boys will find themselves taking a similarly surprise-laden journey. Just when you think you’ve got a handle on Robin Campillo's singular film, the writer-director abruptly changes course, handling his twisting narrative with a bracing confidence.

A long sequence in which Daniel watches his whole life being gradually stripped away from him by a gang of thugs (led by the effortlessly charismatic Daniil Vorobyov) is masterful, but then Campillo brings Marek (Emelyanov) into the picture and Eastern Boys develops into a surprisingly tender and convincing love story.

The most jarring change of pace occurs in the climactic third, with Campillo leaning a little too heavily on contrivance, but by this stage the film has successfully drawn us deep into the heart of this complicated relationship, and so it remains an uncommonly exciting experience. [Philip Concannon]