Boys, boys, boys. It’s not just a catchphrase, a saying, or even the chorus of a famous pop song; it’s also an internalised idea used to justify toxic masculinity and the way it affects us all. Rather than stating this outright, Gener8ion, a multidisciplinary project led by musician Surkin and director Romain Gavras, finds a way to portray these feelings and help us understand the bigger picture. At the centre of this class portrait is none other than the Swedish superstar and cultural icon, Yung Lean.
STORM I & II are the materialisation of this alignment of stars: a visual artefact that goes beyond the concept of a music video to tell an important story. The record is a collaboration between Lean and producer Surkin, known for bringing club music into the realm of cinema, and directed by Romain Gavras. Gavras, the award-winning filmmaker and co-founder of Kourtrajmé, is renowned for his provocative music videos and films (and is, of course, the son of the legendary director Costa-Gavras).
His work blends spectacle, political tension, and striking visual storytelling — qualities expressed with great delicacy in Gener8ion. In the opening scenes, we see a group of male students in a public school being, well, boys. There is boredom, hormones, and violence; they seem ready to start a revolution that has no clear reasoning behind it. The boys fight and bully one another, play sports, kick things, and destroy parts of their classrooms and bathrooms. We’ve seen this before; we recognise it, and yet it remains difficult to both understand and stop. A capitalist narrative tells boys every day that violence, dominance, and leadership are the roles they must embody, leaving them alone to manage what lies within their hearts.
But something shifts in the second part of the film. A broader perspective emerges in a stunning single shot: delicate piano chords and chants intertwine as the foundation for a manifesto sung by Yung Lean: “We stay united through the storm… Lay all your love right on my door.” The choreography of Damien Jalet, the Franco-Belgian dancer behind Luca Guadagnino’s Suspiria and Paul Thomas Anderson’s Anima, begins to unfold as a graduation photograph comes alive through movements that evoke community and solidarity across the entire class.
Art becomes a response to a world that sets men up for impossible challenges while denying them the right to be sensitive. “Go take the darkness out my heart,” the lyrics plead as the film approaches its conclusion. This striking video feels almost pedagogical; referencing films like Bully, To Sir, with Love, and Mean Girls, it takes us to a familiar place—whether you were in the photo or left out of it—to suggest that another future for boys is possible. We just have to show them, and we have to listen. Here, we find a powerful collaboration capable of inspiring a different outcome for boys who feel deeply, offering the image of a future they—and we—deserve.