Dreams from Strangers (2015)

This is a curiously indistinct film with a serious message remarkably well hidden within. It centres around swimmer "Massimo" (Giuseppe Claudio Insalaco) who comes to Russia amidst an increasing, state-sponsored, intolerance of homosexuality. Here he alights on "Vladimir" (Daniel De Rossi) after a competition in St. Petersburg. The latter man is their interpreter but it's fairly clear he is quickly more than that to "Massimo". What now follows is a story of a risky romance, peppered with what appears to be rather randomly selected archive of varying stages of the development of the Russian/Soviet and Italian states. These images rather clutter up the message of what is going on in Russia as we watch this film, and of how this intolerance is affecting the two men. It is almost as if director Roberto Cuzzillo isn't quite sure how to tell the story that he clearly wants to tell, and, I guess - the story that we are watching to appreciate. The last few scenes are rather brutally potent, but for the most part this is a rather disappointing meander of a film that tries hard, as do the actors, but that just falls between two stools rather faintly.