Beyond the Walls

A touching if not entirely satisfying drama about the love between two Brussels musicians, Beyond the Walls introduces Paulo (Matila Malliarakis), a waif-like pianist who accompanies screenings of silent film classics. Paulo is living with an increasingly unhappy girlfriend when he meets Ilir (Guillaume Gouix), an Albanian bassist who keeps his sexuality discreet in a busy urban neighborhood. Booted out of his apartment, Paulo insinuates himself—a helpless boy-man—into Ilir's life and home. Despite initial resistance, Ilir falls for Paulo, and the script by writer-director David Lambert spends a long time focusing on the early, passionate stages of their romance. There's a wonderful moment when Ilir, riding a moving sidewalk, and Paulo—watching Ilir inch his way toward a train platform—horse around for their own amusement: lovers enjoying life in their own bubble. But that bubble bursts when Ilir is arrested for drug possession, forcing Paulo to struggle to survive physically and emotionally without his partner. The film's patient unfolding of moments turns various details into the building blocks of these evolving lives, but Beyond the Walls also sometimes suffers from an emotional flatness. A strong optional purchase. (T. Keogh)