THE BIKE THIEF

[samhexum]

I  came late to the party as far as God's Own Country is concerned.  I don't get out much, so I missed it during the nanosecond it was in theaters, and I didn't have premium cable channels, so I never had the chance to see it.  A couple of years ago I actually found it on a porn site & downloaded it and it sat unwatched on my computer until this past Stupor Bowl Sunday, which is, of course, the most boring day of the year, when I decided "what the hell?" and watched it and fell in love lust with Alec Secareanu.

[A couple of asides here...  I have since found it for free on HULU without commercials and the same combination of reasons why I hadn't seen it apply to Call Me By Your Name.  I've been looking for a place to watch CMBYN for free recently without success, then last week I found it on a different porn site & downloaded it.  Maybe I'll watch it next Stupor Bowl Sunday.]

ANYHOO...  I've been looking for other content starring the lovely and talented Mr. Secareanu ever since, which has led me to watch a meh horror film called Amulet (also on HULU with no commercials) and the first episode of an English-dubbed Romanian series called Ruxx on HBOMax, which he turned out to be in for one minute, 43 minutes into the episode. (He's second-billed, so he'd have a bigger part in other episodes.)

I didn't have high hopes for either (and I was right), but I was curious to see his 2020 film The Bike Thief.  (Yes, it's a remake.) It recently became available on Tubi.  The ad situation:  one ad before the movie, then a fairly long way into the movie there's a break for 4 ads, then a short while later, 2 ads, then a bit later one final ad.  So, not too bad as far as ad breaks go.

But the movie is a disappointment.  He's good, and there are good moments, but... 

It's about 78 minutes, yet it is feels longer (and not in a good way).  It takes a pretty long time to get to his bike (a moped, actually) being stolen, then everything afterward seems a bit rushed, and the ending is too convenient.  Also, 2 of his co-workers resent him because he took the place of a friend of theirs (Momo) who was just 'here one day, gone the next.'  He asks a co-worker he's friendly with what had happened to Momo and gets an evasive non-answer, and we never find out what happened. So why pick that particular scenario as a reason for problems with the co-workers if you're never going to explain it?

And worst of all... he's married to a woman in it.  [SHUDDER!]