The Trio
A quirky little German film that probably has the most inappropriate cover on I've ever seen ( do not believe the sexy cover).
A father and daughter and the father's male love are a gang of pickpockets, working the shopping malls of various German cities, travelling around in their camper van. The lover gets run over and they have to find a replacement for him. A few days earlier, a young man had stolen one of their wallets and the daughter goes to find him and offer him a "job" with them.
They enter into a painful ménage a tois, the girl adoring the young man and seducing him and the father unable to help himself and being seduced in turn. When the daughter finds them together one night she takes off.
There's enough gay action to make this a very watchable film, despite it's deliberately seedy look. For once it's actually nice to see real people in a movie. The father is particularly sexy, even though he is clearly aging after a rough life. A charismatic actor really brings this role to life.
The last few moments of this film are delightful. Watch carefully or you'll miss it!
Recommended if you are very new to gay movies and want something tame to start with.
You get two old geezers in really bad wigs having sex. Ew. And the obligatory cross-dressing scene, cus it's a German film.
Karl, the effeminate one, like a put-upon wife, wants a more settled existence for his twilight years than the itinerant thievery they've been surviving on.
It's bitchbitchbitch.
Zobel, the other partner, is a bit of a gypsy, a bear of a man who wears eyeliner. His daughter elfin, androgynous Lizzie is the third member of the trio. She gets the hots for would-be pickpocket Rudolph who tries to rob the experts.
Karl lands in hospital. I was glad to see him go because his dreadful toupée was just too distracting.
Naturally Rudy gets recruited to take his place. As more than an extra pair of lightfingered hands. Lecherous Zobel just can't keep his hands off the boy, desperate to prove to himself he's young enough yet to pull. They have sex in a toilet. And, almost, in a shower. Not a pretty sight.
It turns into farce as Rudy has Zobel and Lizzie slugging it out for his favours. This triangular relationship then plays out for the rest of the film.
It's dreary and depressing. Relentless rain and what must be the most unscenic parts of Germany.
Oh, Rudy has a pet snake, imaginatively called…Snake.
Zobel astutely nicknames the boy Ratso, after the Dustin Hoffman character in Midnight Cowboy. Hmmn.
I didn't care about any of the characters, and the upbeat ending seemed at odds with the drift of the film. The subtitling is laughably bad.
I think pathos was intended but to me it was pathetic. Though I'm prepared to concede on another night it could've been different.