BALLS ( German )

The words 'German' and 'comedy' are not often linked in a sentence, but for the last decade or so we have seen more and more funny stuff from this country. As we know, the Teutons handle everything they touch with style and polish: in this case it's balls. Here we have what is basically a smalltown story, but there are none of the obvious budget constraints and hesitancy that we may have seen had it been filmed elsewhere. Quite relevant too, when the philosophy behind the flick is that gays, even in sport, are the equal or superiors of their straight counterparts. 'Ecki' is destined to an obscure future in his family's smalltown bakery, except for two seemingly irreconsilable passions. He likes both boys and football. Once he is outed and vows to beat the straight bullies with a gay team, the rest of the story follows a fairly predictable path. He visits his sister in Dortmund, where they gather a hilarious bunch of misfit soccer players together. It has to be said that they all display astonishing tactical and ball-handling skills. Plenty of laughs are to be had as their boozy, washed-up coach whips the team into shape for the gay-straight showdown. Of course, during all this our hero also manages to find true love; paralleling the on-field match to it's nail-biting finale.