Teenage Kicks (2016)

Miklós (Miles Szanto) is a young man with ambitions to run off with his best mate "Dan" (Daniel Webber). Things get complicated when his brother is killed in a cycling accident and his friend decides he wants to stay put with his friendly new girlfriend "Phaedra"(Charlotte Best), just as "Mik" thinks it possible they might have a future together. His emerging homosexuality and his love for his friend take quite a beating over the next hour or so as the pair gradually, and not always peaceably, realise that this is not going to be a smooth ride for anyone. The narrative here is complex and rich; the acting actually quite proficient and the story has a certain honest messiness to it that I found quite refreshing. Nothing goes to plan because nobody has a plan. I could have done without the cluttering familial immigrant sub-plot, that rather took the focus away from the intensity of the principal story, but all told this is a better than average mid-budget effort with a strong story, plausible characterisations and an ending that offers a violent route to redemption that is tough to watch, but pretty poignant and doesn't deliver quite what you might expect.