Jonathan

Twenty-three year-old Jonathan (Jannis Niewohner), is a blonde hothead with a body sculpted by toiling away daily on his father’s farm out in the sticks in rural Germany. His mother has long been dead and now with his father Burghardt (Andre Hennicke) terminally ill, there’s just Jonathan and his aunt Martha to keep the farm going. It doesn’t help that Burghardt resists all his son’s efforts to take care of him. At his wit’s end, Jonathan brings in a lovely young caretaker, Anka (Julia Koschitz) who bonds with his father and who he finds himself desperately attracted to. He’s also desperate to find out what secret his father has been hiding. The secret is slowly revealed when Ron, an old friend of his father’s appears on the scene. As Jonathan and Anka begin an affair, she helps him understand his father’s moods. Ron’s reappearance in Burghardt’s life has impacted his health for the better and soon it becomes clear to Jonathan that his father has repressed his gay sexuality for years. Hurt and angered by what he considers his father’s betrayal – especially after Burghardt makes it clear that he wants to spend his remaining time with Ron, the love of his life – Jonathan comes to an emotional crossroad. Can he forgive his father? Piotr J. Lewandowski’s debut feature is a visually sumptuous feast for the senses, anchored by the sensitive, complex performances of the cast and its many plot twists and turns.

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