To Play or to Die

Stars: Geert Hunaerts. A strange and rather haunting short film, To Play or to Die stars Geert Hunaerts as Kees, a diminutive boy who's routinely harassed by his classmates at a Dutch all-boy school. A shy teenage intellectual, Kees is experiencing the initial confusion of adolescent sexual feelings. He finds himself attracted to his tormentor's ringleader, the blonde-haired, handsome Charel (Tjebbo Gerritsma), and invites him home when his parents are away. Once together, the boys are alternately attracted and repulsed by their sexual feelings for one another, and eventually resolve their frustrations through fighting. Although not easily categorized or defined, To Play or to Die has some of the mysterious quality of a really good ghost story capped by a truly eerie ending. Note: the film does contain a non-explicit though very frank masturbation scene. Audience: Not exactly something the Smiths are going to watch during dinner, To Play or to Die would be appreciated by foreign film fans.