If You Only Knew (1999)

Gen-X loser Parker Concorde (Jonathan Schaech) is a shy, aspiring writer who works as a telephone psychic by day and lives a lonely existence by night. When his apartment burns down he must find a new one. At first he stays at the home of his womanizing buddy Jack (James LeGros), who lives by the credo that "New York is a dessert tray of beautiful women." Then Parker meets beautiful Samantha, (Alison Eastwood), who is looking for a roommate for her fabulous loft in the Village. Samantha is a painter who dreams of studying in Paris and has a habit of getting involved with the wrong men. When they bump into each other in a Manhattan flower shop, it's love at first sight for Parker. Samantha has an affordable room available, and she likes having male roommates--but only if they're gay. Desperate, Parker decides to take the plunge, and passes himself off as a gay friend of a friend. An inevitable comedy of errors ensues, as Parker desperately tries to keep Samantha from learning his two secrets: he's not gay, and he's in love with her. But his romantic plans are frustrated when she keeps setting him up with her other gay friends.

This sweet romantic comedy features appealing and compelling characters. It's cute, lighthearted, entertaining, clean, and funny, with heart and a good story. Viewers comments are uniformly very good. One example: "This happens to be one of my favorite movies! I've seen it many times, and every time I love it even more. For the most part I think that this has happened to all of us. You try to be someone you're not to get something that you could have easily had if you were yourself. But each person has their own opinions and I love this movie, and recommend everyone to watch it." Bill Meyers composed the original music, Gary Goldstein wrote the screenplay, and David Snedeker directed.

Oi! Warning (1999)

Janosch (Sascha Backhaus) has problems at school and despises the lifestyle of his bourgeois mother. He runs away from home to his friend Koma (Simon Goerts), whom he had met at a holiday camp. Koma is an Oi! skinhead (punk-skinhead) who has little political motivations, preferring a lifestyle of partying and binge drinking, and enjoys skinhead and punk rock music. Janosch is struggling with his sexual identity, attracted to Koma, who doesn't seem to notice. Koma and his girlfriend Sandra (Sandra Borgmann) are expecting twins soon, but Koma invites Janosch to stay in their nursery for the time being. Before long, Janosch has cut off his hair and immersed himself in skinhead culture, but he finds little outlet for his homoerotic desires. Sandra wants Koma to change his ways. She blows up his secret hideaway with dynamite, but this only angers Koma, who blames this on the punks he had a fight with previously.

Sandra decides to find Janosch a girlfriend, specifically Blanca (Britta Dirks). However, while she takes a strong liking to him, he is not attracted to her. Janosch becomes aware of a group of self-styled "modern primitives" who modify their bodies with tattoos and piercings and encourage free sexual expression. He gets to know a few of them and becomes physically involved with Zottel (Jens Veith), a punk who earns a living with small circus acts at wealthy people's parties. The two fall in love. However, the skins regard the primitives as their enemies, and Koma is not at all happy with Janosch's new friends or the open acknowledgement of his homosexuality. Janosch's happiness ends when Koma attacks Zottel and kills him. In a fit of fury, Janosch grabs a brick and slays Koma.

This movie is the directorial debut of the Reding twin brothers and took about five years to film, mostly due to financial constraints. It is shot in black and white, underscoring the film's gritty feel. The film won the German Camera Award and an emerging talent award at the L.A. Outfest. Tom Ammermann composed the original music, and Ben Reding and Dominic Reding wrote the screenplay. In German with English subtitles.