Two bearded, muscle-y men wear tank tops and work on the roof of an old building with the mountains and clouds in the background.
Image Credit: ‘The Eight Mountains,’ Janus Films

Decades after they met and became childhood besties, circumstances reunite Pietro and Bruno in the tiny Italian mountain village of Grana where they rekindle their friendship and untangle complicated new feelings.

You know what they say: What happens in the tiny Italian mountain village of Grana stays in the tiny Italian mountain village of Grana, right?

Okay, maybe not quite. But is it just the altitude, or is there something special between these two?

The Eight Mountains is a sweeping, sentimental new film about the bonds of male friendship from Charlotte Vandermeersch and Oscar-nominated Belgian filmmaker Felix van Groeningen (The Broken Circle Breakdown), adapting Paolo Cognetti’s debut award-winning novel.

We first meet Pietro and Bruno when they’re 11 years old. Pietro is, effectively, a “city boy” who heads up to the mountains on holiday with his family. The village they vacation to has been gradually vacated, so Bruno’s the only kid left of the same age, already tasked with working on his family’s farm.

Despite their different backgrounds, the two become fast friends, and only grow closer and closer with each passing summer. Until, one day, their lives set them on different paths.

Two young boys where shorts and t-shirts, ride piggyback through the tall grass of a mountain.
Image Credit: ‘The Eight Mountains,’ Janus Films

Years later, Pietro (now played by Luca Marinelli, best known as one of the gay heroes in The Old Guard) learns his estranged father has passed, and he’s left to tend to the family’s remote plot of land, way up in the mountains where he used to vacation.

Back in Grana, he reconnects with Bruno (Suburra‘s Alessandro Borghi) and enlists his old pal to build a new place on the family plot of land. Spending their days alone together, the two find themselves reminiscing about their pasts and dreaming about their futures.

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So, is there something gay going on here? We genuinely don’t know, but even the trailer plays up the crackling chemistry between these two. And it certainly doesn’t hurt that we see a lot of them sweaty and sleeveless working on their little DIY project.

After premiering at the Cannes Film Festival last May—where it won the Jury Prize (effectively “third place”) in competition—The Eight Mountains will finally receive a proper release stateside, opening in NYC on April 28 and LA on May 5 with more dates to come.

Watch the film’s gorgeous, scenic trailer below:

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