I had to think for quite some times to actually know what the right way to summarize this movie. In a nutshell, this movie sure will be categorized as LGBTQ+ themed movie, but more than that this movie will surely walk you through the experience of a young man who clearly doesn't have any clue on being affectionate and loving and how he navigates his journey and people around him.
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Johnny Saxby (Josh O'Connor) spends pretty much his lifetime in a farm, growing up with his dad and grandma, his mom left when he was a kid. Just like his father, he's portrayed as a distant, stiff, tough character; as he lives in a quite secluded area; quite far from the rest of the world. He spends most of his time dealing with his boredom over farm job by binge-drinking, reckless sexual encounters, and of course hangover. Gheorghe Ionescu (Alec Secareanu), who eventually will become Johnny's love interest, on the other hand is warm, patient and understanding, even though he also came from the same farming background. Gheorghe is a migrant worker from Romania. As both work with each other more, Johnny showed a little defense mechanism by calling Gheorghe racist slur, which might a response to Gheorghe being all-round guy and also reliable with his work on the farm. The two will get closer especially after the two spend nights together on a barn for fixing the wall and herding the sheep as it's lambing season. Throughout the movie; Gheorghe despite being offended seems to understand what Johnny's been going through; as we later see Johnny's father stroke getting worse, or even on the beginning of the movie where Johnny meets his old friend that just came back for college break. He clearly hates the idea how his life is miserable and even start yelling at his father that he wants to see the outside world, although in the pub scene when he meets his old friend, he judges her for being blinded by the city life, and doesn't know anything about harshness and the reality of "real world" he lives in. He uses this defense mechanism to cover his vulnerability, although later we see this wall crash down with him willing to be vulnerable and express his feelings, just like Gheorghe does. Gheorghe also reminds him how to feel content with things that we have.
What's good about this movie is while its main storyline is about relations between Johnny and Gheorghe, but the conflict also involves the other character. The script doesn't have many dialogue, there are quite a few scene where the characters just doing their thing and didn't talk, which makes this movie even more realistic. The interaction often times involve gestures and expression that didn't hinder the realness of the situation but explicitly telling us how they feel, but some of them left us wondering. We see this even through the grandma character when she ironing Johnny's father or when earlier she found a used condom under Johnny's shirts in his room. The grandma clearly knows the two are up to something and somehow managed to figure it out (I guess) when she tells Johnny that Gheorghe's here to work. Or when Johnny tries to convince his father that he's gonna be responsible for the farm but it has to be with his way and he needs to get Gheorghe back. But not only Johnny, even his father also shows character development. From being stubborn and reluctant to the idea of Johnny taking over the farm, he's quite convinced on how Johnny changes throughout the movie and being more reliable especially when his health got worse.
Gheorghe moved in to the house as they decided to take out the caravan, and the movie ends. Besides its happy ending, the movie also opens any possibilities about their future. How they cope up with the people on the village which often times being close-minded, as we see when Johnny brings Gheorghe to local pub he encounters a harassment from a xenophobic man for being an immigrant, let alone knowing the fact that he's also gay. What I also like about this movie is that both characters never say I love you to each other instead they call each other freak and other word (which I can't write because it's considered a slur), which again show how realistic both characters are. But although the response are mostly positive and even quite flattering, I somehow feel that this movie was overshadowed by another LGBTQ themed movie that released at quite the same time, Call Me by Your Name. After comparing these two, I can't stop thinking how a movie that clearly showed a good character development, mesmerizing cinematography and really good ensemble cast didn't have the same exposure and hype like another movie which portrayed a character that clearly knows he's in relationship back home but instead he proceeds to flirt with his professor's son and left him brokenhearted (that's not my entire take though).
But again, clearly this movie begins just as gloomy as rainy morning, might feel heavy with all the misfortune both characters must endure, but also might feel delightful as they work on the differences and difficulties they encountered along the way.
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