Mischa Kamp's Jongens

In cinema, a typical scenario of a young unrequited first love goes something like this: Two teeners develop tender feelings for each other for the first time; the challenge is that either one of them or both can’t say it out loud. If they do, there are some reservations. In that regard, the Dutch film JONGENS (𝘉𝘰𝘺𝘴, 2014), directed by Mischa Kamp, can be said to have a rather simple and familiar story.

In this film, we have two aspiring teenage track-and-field athletes, Sieg (Gijs Blom) and Marc (Ko Zandvilet), who happen to meet during one of their trainings. Immediately, sparks fly between the two boys. Though each has a somewhat different way of approaching their budding tender feelings.

Sieg is quiet and reserved, more inclined to keep in check a possible romance and to steal some glances instead from afar. While Marc is outgoing and expressive, more than willing to let the other boy know of his growing feelings. Of course, it won’t really require some second-guessing regarding the direction the relationship between the two boys will eventually take. The director isn’t exactly concerned with the moral or psychological complexities of a same-sex young love.

Rather, Kamp delves into the tide of emotions that swirl around this budding romance, as universal as they can be. And rightly so. Because the result is an affectionate, touching and sweet tale of a blooming first love. Kamp, working on a script by Jaap-Peter Enderle and Chris Westendorp, crafts a pleasingly relatable tale, buoyed by a duo of lead performers with believable chemistry.

After Sieg’s and Marc’s first kiss at a lake (captured in a beautiful overhead shot by cinematographer Melle van Essen), the former tells the latter bluntly “I’m not gay,” to which Marc replies only with a timid smile. We know that Sieg is just trying to brush off his true feelings for Marc. In a different instance, when Marc chances upon Sieg who’s together with a girl in a carnival (perhaps in a futile attempt to still cover his true sexuality), Sieg, after politely introducing the girl to Marc, merely leaves him behind. We can feel the jealousy that’s stirring within Marc. Later on in the film, in a tense moment that involves Sieg’s elder brother Eddy (Jonas Smulders), Sieg angrily confronts Marc and then leaves him once again. We’re certain that Sieg doesn’t really mean what he has just said and done.

But perhaps,  the most quietly lovely moment in the film is on the beach late at night when the two boys are alone together, as both are having a hard time sleeping at their training camp. Here, Marc asks Sieg, “Shall we stay here forever?” With this sincere (and swoony) question, we deeply feel that the two boys are savoring the joy of the moment when they are away from the eyes of the world and forging their future together in their own little way. Indeed, JONGENS is the kind of film that’s abound with sincere emotions.

Probably because the film was originally meant for TV and not to mention the few tender kisses between the two good-looking leads, Kamp does away entirely with any form of explicit eye-candy in the manner of a João Pedro Rodrigues or a Gregg Araki gay film. Explicitness seems to be 𝘥𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘶𝘳 in an LGBTQ film. But its absence in JONGENS is rather working in its favor.

Sympathetic characters, honest emotions, quiet grace, and a well-told story are sometimes all it takes to come up with a beautiful film, without the need for sensationalism or provocation. Of course, controversial films will continue to add spice and variance to our cinematic library. Yet, the power and rewards of a quiet and subtle film, no matter how small it may be, are just deeply satisfying. For every A CLOCKWORK ORANGE that disturbs us, there’s something like CHILDREN OF HEAVEN that soothes us.

It came to my mind another film that I recently saw, the Italian film THE EIGHT MOUNTAINS. This is an epic and majestic, yet low-key and humane chronicle of male friendship through the years, as witnessed by the breathtaking Italian Alps. There may be no imposing mountains that surround JONGENS and its running-time may be merely a little over an hour, but its portrait of a young same-sex love-relationship is just as impactful.

Does the film conclude happily for Sieg and Marc? Let’s simply say that the makers of the film adopt a less cynical and less discouraging view of the relationship, as some gay-oriented movies are wont to do. Indeed, JONGENS is a little gem that deserves to be rediscovered.