Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

Myron Clemons A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

Yash Wade Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

Ginger Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

afuri-kurage What can I say? I watched it because Matilla (Paulo's actor) but I didn't expect that the movie would be this wonderful! (cant help since many gay-theme movies are really plain) I laughed, smiled, and cried a lot. The story isn't the only best thing here because the actors (especially Matilla) have done perfect job. It's sad there's much movie of him around (he's more a TV star I think). This is highly recommended for those who're into gay movie. thought I hate the ending, since its really sad but hey, just watch it! Don't worry, this isn't porn, you wont see and genital here, just a soft romantic gay movie and you wont find awesome gay themed movie like this everyday.

movie reviews OK, I am gay so this movie I can evaluate---first it rings very true....of course things are exaggerated here and there for artistic emphasis.Paulo's clinging guarantees to kill off the beginning love relation with Ilir you feel like giving him advice constantly....no no don't do that! Play a littlehard to get...Paulo you feel is essentially helpless in a likable way but still quite creepy with the S&M stuff. Ilir is the only normal character---he did not lead Paulo on but used him a little in a fix.The movie is a downer but very real...I was never involved in S&M always considered the chubbies and bald old trolls dressed up in leather and chains as a form of drag...a fakery of some kind.In the end it is obvious Ilir has HIV and you feel like shouting at Paulo God don't touch him...then they get drunk...and you know a disaster will happen but it doesn't.Guillaume is nice looking the movie Nobody Else But You is a lot better it is a comedy with lots of incidental gay characters including himself again watch it instead.....downer gay movies are not my thing.Still for that genre this is different and entertaining and never boring.The movie is already a bit dated...I live in Colorado and pot hash etc.. is legal now. Should have used cocaine or heroin for Ilir's buzz preference.RECOMMEND

ekeby I have to disagree with the other review here (and at the time I write this, there's only one), Weekend is a much better movie than Beyond the Walls. I see the similarities, but this is far more complex than Weekend.Not nuanced, mind you, complex. With Weekend, I felt I really knew the two principle characters well, warts and all. They were lifelike and real.These characters are somewhat one-dimensional. Despite the life changes made by Paolo, the young guy, I didn't really understand him fully. More of a back story on him might have helped me understand how he goes from conflicted, to needy, to clingy, to obsessed, to victim, to detached, all in the space of a year. Which is entirely possible, but unlikely in a first-world early-20s-something. And, evidently, he only knows two gay people, both older men. We only see him in the first scene with contemporaries (and they abandon him, so are they really friends?) except for his girlfriend. And all we learn about their relationship is that she's finally had enough of his sleeping with men. And, I know it sounds petty, but it bothered me that I didn't know how Paolo was earning a living. That isn't revealed until half-way into the movie. I found it a distraction, wondering if it was a plot point. He uses an inhaler frequently in the first part of the movie, so I wondered if he was on disability. We don't see the inhaler in the second part of the movie, so maybe that's meant to signify he's more comfortable with the life choices he's made? If so, that's a LOT to hang on an inhaler.His first lover, Ilir, is a little more sketched out, but I wasn't convinced that he was the kind of person who would have succumbed so quickly to the petulance and coquetry of Paolo, particularly when the aforementioned's "charms" were at least partly motivated by his needing a place to stay. The second lover, the owner of a gay sex shop, is about as flat a character as you'll ever meet.If you sketch out the plot line on paper, it makes sense, and is plausible. But I don't think the movie makes the sell. Still, I wasn't bored, and was curious to see how things resolved. I did not quite buy the ending, but again, I could see how it might happen.This is an above-average movie, and many may like it. But for me, it was no Weekend. By far.

jm10701 Beyond the Walls is the beautiful, erotic and powerful story of an almost pathologically needy young man named Paulo, his encounters with two much stronger men, and how those experiences change his life.There are none of the stereotypical characters, florid melodrama and boringly predictable plot clichés that cripple most gay movies. From their initial meeting in a bar, Paulo and Ilir jump quickly into a relationship of such intense passion and tenderness that it makes all other gay movies look like The Love Boat. But from that point on, nothing anybody does fits our Hollywood-conditioned expectations of what these characters ought to do. They all change, but never in ways we expect them to.The movie is never either predictable or gimmicky, and every scene rings true. Best of all is Matila Malliarakis's astonishing, courageous and brilliant performance as Paulo. Everything about this movie is excellent - the writing, direction, photography, music, and all the actors - but without Malliarakis it would be just a good movie. He makes it spectacular.