Stranger by the Lake (2013)

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

The first thing you'll notice about this film is the beautiful cinematography. The run time, which is just over 1 and a half hours, is full of long, gorgeous shots of the lake and the woods surrounding it. The fact that the entire story takes place at this lake also adds an air of mystique to the proceedings, creating a moody atmosphere. However, this proves not to be enough to carry the film, as it still seems rather slow throughout. The dialogue is trite and there's hardly any characterization, leaving the motivations of the subjects rather vague. There is gratuitous nudity but almost no violence, or any action (other than several sex scenes) until the last twenty minutes. In the end, the fact that this film is merely 'good', when it had the potential to be 'great', is somewhat maddening.

The good news first: If you are into men - Pierre Deladonchamps and Christophe Paou are quite sexy and bare it all - full frontal nudity throughout the flick.Unfortunately, two beefy guys are a lame excuse for the lack of a decent story line. Let's see: We have Franck, who obviously carries his brain in his dick. So he does what any homosexual would do after he witnesses the guy he has the hots for killing his lover: He digs him up and screws with him. Makes sense, doesn't it?We have the killer, Michel, who not only kills his boyfriend but in the course of the film also a Police agent. Now isn't he clever? The agent may have been stupid enough to return to the crime scene alone – but it's more than likely that he has a list of suspects in his office so when he gets killed, his colleagues will start to check whom he interviewed last.Than we have Franck's platonic relationship with Henri – he really seems to care about him. But this subplot leaves the impression that the writer just wanted to show that the character Franck is not entirely driven by his penis – and fill up time. Because in the end Franck's relation with Henri does not stop him from bonking a murderer. What sense does it make to show Franck's compassionate side if it's in the end still his wiener that rules?As so often with french films, there's no real end. We don't learn whether Michel get's caught, and if not, whether Franck finally wises up and terminates his dangerous liaison with Henri.Not very much for 100 minutes – which, by the way, appear much longer while sitting through this bore.And as for the full frontal nudity: If that's what you lust for, rent a porn.

When a film is billed as a "tense thriller" there are only two things I am looking for in my viewing experience: for the film to be tense and for the film to be a thriller. Good lord this film tried my patience. In the 100 minute running time, we are treated to slowly watching the protagonist (Franck) drive into the lakeside parking area and park his car a dozen different times. Apparently, this is to cue the audience that time has past. Franck makes no decisions that make any sense. His friendship with Henri goes nowhere. His relationship with Michel goes nowhere. There is no story arc (important, to not only good storytelling, but if you want to build tension.) There is no character development. There are no redeeming qualities. At all. (To the film's credit, however, Pierre Deladonchamps (Franck) does his utmost to keep this film afloat.) No time during this chore of a film was I tense, nor was I ever thrilled. What I was, in spades, was bored.Gay cinema needs to start getting better than this.

This is one of those gay films that has no backbone, the sex scenes are really the only thing worth mentioning. The plot is so thin, I felt NOTHING for the characters, you already know he killed the man, so where's the mystery? I understand it's about passion, but it's completely over the top. Maybe I'm jaded, but the main character falls in love with the person he knows is the killer after one hook up. I don't even feel this is worth writing any more about since I wasted enough time watching it.There are plenty of great gay films, but this is not one of them.