Alexis dos Santos' film 'Unmade Beds' is actually really skillfully well made; a pity, then that's it's so damn annoying. It's a tale of impossible beautiful young people living without any visible means of support in a warehouse in Hoxton, smoking lots of cigarettes to an achingly hip soundtrack, and generally getting entangled in each others lives (and bodies). It's also the sort of film where the characters look perpetually soulful and think lots of supposedly deep thoughts. Of course, one thing a film can do is idealise reality, and many of the best movies eventually end with sentimental payoffs; but this film is rife with unearned epiphanies, the whole film is a mood piece with no supporting substance. The poignancy is sham; dos Santos ultimately has nothing to say, although, as he says it rather well, there is hope he might produce something self-indulgent in future.

This is a nice gentle little film. The type of indy that use to get made all of the time before producers and worthy script editors decided each film had to have a quota of gangsters, fist fights and murders. I loved the fact that we didn't have to rely on any of these to tell a story, establish characters and reach a conclusion.I can understand some of the harsh comments on this site coming from people who feel cheated because this quota is not there. They've seen so many films building up to getting rid of a dead body or finding somewhere to stash the loot that when they are confronted with something that simply presents the lives of ordinary people (okay ordinary but very good looking people who look like they have stumbled off the set of a Lynx advert) it is not enough for them.If more films like this were made and we could all learn to enjoy them then we would enjoy even more our usual diet of kiss kiss bang bang because of the variety these two types of films present. That's why I get bored with films today they all want to shock or imitate a computer game. It doesn't always have to be like that.

This movie makes me happy. Because the director didn't cave for a crowd pleaser nor a nonsensical festival piece. Intriguing, gentle, wonderful visuals, fantastic dialogue, kick ass soundtrack. The director accomplished to make a moving work that's light, floats but touches. It perfectly leads its naive endearing lead characters through a place and moment where everybody is in transit without being overly explanatory. Tielve & Francois are adorable, Huisman and Goldberg are no less than excellent. The soundtrack might not be your thing maybe but it completely matches the scene it is set in and has some great tracks. It sure is mine and i thought it to be grand. If you liked the movie Cashback you'll love this one too and the other way around:)

Unmade Beds is an evocative capture of transient post-student / early twenty-something life in a borderless European Economic Community. It has endearing main characters and plenty of nice quirky touches – only when you're 22 could you start a relationship with someone without knowing their name or phone number. One suggests the next time to meet, the other the place – though I'm not quite sure where the money came from to finance the various (admittedly salubrious) hotel rooms.Some of the plotting felt very original – such as the two leads unwittingly swopping jackets and mattresses before they finally meet. The 'lost father/son' sub-plot was weaker though - Axl shows a confidence in his interactions with his 'Is-he-or-isn't-he?' dad that seems out of kilter with the more passive and subservient way he relates to his peers. That said, I thought the denouement of the relationship in question was nicely handled at the end.The film is more of a study of the ebb and flow of casual encounters than it any kind of particularly satisfying story. By and large, it manages to avoid the more obvious clichés that come with the territory, although the occasional one slipped through the net. For example, the Romantic Away-Day Train-Trip cliché, "let's just jump on any train and see where it goes." Why do they never end up in somewhere really dull and godforsaken, like Bromley? (and if that leaves you thinking "why Bromley?", just ask any AFC Wimbledon fan).I wondered if it said something slightly vapid about the nature of a current hedonistic, nihilistic and experimental androgynous youth - and then thought that perhaps that said more about my middle aged, overly-exaggerated and sentimental memories of the importance of animal rights demonstrations in the mid-eighties. It probably does.Overall, a winningly-sweet smile...and a little bit chaotic...and rambling...and all over the place 6/10.