Sommersturm (2004)

Tobi (Robert Stadlober) and Achim (Kostja Ullmann) have been best friends for years and are convinced that nothing will ever stand in the way of their friendship. As cox and oarsman, they have led their rowing club to win several rowing cups in the past, and are looking forward to win a big regatta in the countryside of Germany. But problems soon arise. As Achim's relationship with his girlfriend Sandra (Miriam Morgenstern), who's also on the team, grows more and more serious, Tobi starts to realize that his feelings for Achim run much deeper than he's willing to admit to himself. He feels confused, unsure of himself, and increasingly left out by the team. When Sandra's best friend Anke (Alicja Bachleda-Curuś) shows her interest in him, his anxiety starts to grow. When it turns out that the Berlin girls' team has been replaced by a team of athletic, cliché-bursting young gay men, Tobi and his teammates are suddenly forced to grapple with their prejudices, fears, and hidden longings. The Queerschlag ("Queerstrokes"), are a gay youth rowing team, out of the closet and proud of it. Spurned by Achim, Tobi is devastated, but is consoled by his new friendship with Queerschlag member Leo (Marlon Kittel). The tension between the two teams culminates in a scene set to the backdrop of a summer storm, during which Leo confronts Tobi about his homosexuality in front of his fellow team-mates. Tobi denies being gay, and one of his team-mates tells Anke to tell the rest of his team. Anke, the only person to whom Tobi has confided his secret, remains silent. Ultimately, Tobi comes out to his fellow team-mates, and his rowing team and Queerschlag go on to compete in the final regatta.

This award-winning German coming-of-age film (yes, another gay coming-of-age film) has a great soundtrack, including the smash hit "Willkommen" from the German duo Rosenstolz. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution wrote, "Summer Storm nicely captures the awkward confusion of first-time sexual encounters (gay or straight) and the collateral wounds caused by deceiving others and oneself." The screenplay was written by Thomas Bahman and Marco Kreuzpaintner, who also directed. The English title is "Summer Storm".

Deathtrap (1982)

Clifford Anderson (Christopher Reeve), a student of Sidney Bruhl's (Michael Caine)
writing seminars, sends him a copy of his first attempt at playwrighting for Sidney's advice. The play, "Deathtrap," is a five character, two act thriller so perfect that Sidney says, "A gifted director couldn't even hurt it." Using his talent for plot, and out of his desperate desire to once again be the toast of Broadway, Sidney, along with wife Myra (Dyan Cannon), dream up an almost unthinkable scheme: they'll lure the aspiring playwright to the Bruhl home, kill him, and market the script as Sidney's own. But shortly after Clifford arrives, it's clear that things are not what they seem. Even Helga Ten Dorp (Irene Worth), a psychic living next door, and Porter Milgram (Henry Jones), Sidney's astute attorney, can only speculate where the line between truth and deception lies. The Bruhls invite Anderson over, strangle him, and bury the body. But when they retire to bed afterwards, Anderson comes crashing through the window. He chases Myra through the house, scaring her weak heart into cardiac arrest. It turns out that Bruhl and Anderson are really gay lovers and have plotted this elaborate scheme to kill her. Anderson then moves into the house as Bruhl’s secretary. But Bruhl becomes suspicious when Anderson starts writing a play called "Deathtrap", which bears a suspicious resemblance to their scheme to murder Myra.

Based on a hit 1979 Broadway play by Ira Levin, who conceived "Deathtrap" as a satire on the whodunnit genre, the plot is filled with many twists and turns. It becomes increasingly more far-fetched, something that ups the entertainment value the more over-the-top it gets. The scene where Reeve and Caine kiss for the first time is a shock for the audience, for the dramatic surprise and for the fact we are seeing two men kissing--it was one of the first scenes of casual and open homosexuality on screen at the time, although it is cut in many US TV screenings today. Jay Presson Allen wrote the screenplay from Ira Levin's stage play, and Sidney Lumet directed.