This has a lot going for it and it was intriguing seeing it (fairly) soon after having seen tow mainstream YA gay stories – Red, White and Royal Blue and, a little while ago, the latest Heartstopper.
The title initially only seemed to be directly relevant at the very start and then it seemed to fade from the film until the very end but on reflection, it did provide something that, implicitly, connected the man character to his/her group.
The depiction of the school seemed pretty real – more so than in other dramas recently seen – but I was not convinced by the very bullying female teacher. She really did not ring true at all and was one of the very few moments where it seemed to be there for a rather crudely dramatic point to be made (the prejudice faced by trans people, even from mature adults who one would have expected to know better). Other than this, the adult characters were, by and large, effectively and understandably depicted. They did not always make the right decisions but they were willing to learn, even quite late in the development of the story. Not the fuzziness of Heartstopper here.
There were some nice stylistic cinematic touches such as when the screen was filled with words/phrases from media or in someone’s mind but this device was not over-used.
There was a commendable and realistic sense of growth and development from almost all the individuals as well as their changing personal relationships which was maturely and not sentimentally done.
And it was very encouraging that this film came out of Poland, given their current Government’s view of such social matters.