Lukas Dhont thought he was doing with "Close" what Anthony Schattenman's "Young Hearts," a queer adolescent love story, did. Young Hearts actually appears to care about its young leads, whereas Close used queer pain to manipulate compassion. It tells the story of a 14-year-old kid who falls for the boy next door, causing him to question his sexuality and somewhat rebel against his parents. Sweet and earnest, this is the kind of film that’s easy to wrap your arms around because it understands that coming of age is inherently traumatic. It needn’t be overly dramatized.
Elias, a quiet, unassuming child who lives in a small Dutch village, is played by Lou Goossens. His older brother is dating, his loving mother, Nathalie (Emilie De Roo), supports his father, and his empathetic grandfather (Dirk van Dijck), who will play a significant role in his journey, works on a farm, make up the majority of his family. His father, Luk (Geert Van Rampelberg), a lounge singer achieving modest fame with a song he performs at retirement homes and community centers, is the oddest member of his family. Elias has a girlfriend in the form of Valerie (Saar Rogiers), but you can tell right away how little he seems to like her. Elias, it might be said, only lives an archetypical life because it’s what one expects of a boy his age.
That all changes when Alexander, a young man from Brussels played by Marius De Saeger, moves next door. Alexander not only lost his mother long ago, but he also comes from the big city. So you can see how he might be more worldly and mature than Elias, who is reserved. As such, Alexander arrives, comfortably expressing his queerness. When he and Elias begin hanging out—lounging underneath a shady tree, exploring an abandoned manor, and jumping into a pond—Alexander makes it clear he’s loved a boy before. Elias, on the other hand, has never loved anyone. As a result, their dynamic is consistent with a well-known queer trope in which the more experienced partner helps the contemplative newcomer navigate the emotional ups and downs of self-discovery. While Alexander and Elias tenderly bike down dirt roads and exchange secret glances, the film feels reassuring and warm, despite the cozy photography that supports this delicate story. Schattenman trusts his young leads, so he frequently lets his soft lens linger on their faces as new ideas, emotions, and passions emerge.123movies is aware that for a 14-year-old, even a peck on the cheek from their first love can cause entire universes to explode, their excitement does not manifest itself in an overtly physical way—they are as brief and guarded as you would expect. If there are gripes that could be levied at “Young Hearts,” it’s the fact that nothing unexpected happens, and the rural set pieces are so commonplace you feel like you’ve seen several movies like this before. Familiarity, however, doesn’t breed inadequacy. This is to say that my colleagues will often dismiss a movie from a marginalized group if there are already other examples of it, intimating that there can only be one or two of these before they get repetitive. The normative stories, on the other hand, are retold a million times. I’ll take a million versions of Romeo and Juliet (this movie makes a couple of winking references to the Baz Luhrmann version) and a million tender movies just like “Young Hearts.”