After years together, partners Boris and Jonathan have reached a kind of stasis in their relationship. The love is still there, but where’s the romance, the adventure, the spark?
Settled into a place of easy companionship, the couple hardly even spends their evenings together, busying themselves with their respective careers. And when an inconvenience or an annoyance crops up, it’s seldom discussed between them—just left to fester.
That’s where German dramedy Bones And Names (“Knochun und Namen”) begins—long after the meet-cute, the flirtatious texts, the happy endings of most romance movies. What happens when we let our love gets complacent?
First-time feature filmmaker Fabian Stumm (previously seen in the excellent gay drama Great Freedom) writes, directs, and stars as Boris, one half of the couple who finds himself preoccupied with his latest acting gig. Under the guidance of an eccentric director, Boris begins to blur fact and fiction, especially as he gets closer and closer with his handsome romantic screen partner.
Meanwhile, Jonathan (Knut Berger) is a writer, funneling all of his anxieties over death and loss into his latest book, attempting to re-discover his voice in some peculiar ways.
Gradually, the fractures in the relationship expand outward, and the story envelops Boris’ colleague, Jonathan’s sister, and his young niece Josie, too, who’s about to become a teenager and is testing the boundaries of her independence.
Sweet, sensitive, and often very funny, Bones And Names is a refreshing take on the natural human need for some surprise in our lives, every now and then.
Stumm’s “personal but not autobiographical” film made its debut at the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival earlier this year, where it won the Heiner Carow Prize—awarded to German films of note—and was nominated for the Teddy Award, honoring the fest’s best LGBTQ+ features.
Now, Bones And Names is set to make its North American premiere at Outfest, LA’s premier LGBTQ+ film festival, on Thursday July 20. Future festival dates, as well as theatrical/streaming details are yet to be announced.
Ahead of the Outfest premiere, Stumm has shared the official international trailer for the film, which you can watch below:
