[4] Marek, a young Ukrainian immigrant in Paris, works the street in front of the Gare du Nord with his Eastern European friends.

The boy pushes past him into the apartment and proceeds to chide him for allegedly inviting him, a minor, to his home for sex.

As they disperse around his well-appointed apartment, helping themselves to its facilities, Boss taunts Daniel about his helplessness and repressed homosexuality, before suggesting to him that it was he who invited them over.

After Daniel yields to his repeated entreats for entry, and opens the door, the young man bluntly offers sex.

While grocery shopping one evening, Marek tells Daniel that he grew up in Chechnya, that both of his parents were casualties in the war, and reveals that his name is actually Rouslan.

He is muscled back up to their floor, where Boss assaults Rouslan, smashes his cell phone, and has the other boys tie him up — leaving him restrained in a private storage room.

When the concierge is unable to confirm Rouslan's whereabouts, Daniel takes a room, at her suggestion, on the second floor, where the immigrants are housed.

Although the concierge brushes this off at first, when Daniel calls down to the front desk shortly after, she explains that the immigrants are managed by Social Services and, as such, are out of her jurisdiction.

Realising he must act swiftly, Daniel moves his car into the underground parking lot, then uses the stair access to return to the front desk.

Having played her vital role, the concierge quickly returns to her work, as Daniel moves Rouslan, still tied-up, to his hotel room before the gang members can discover them.

When Boss discovers that someone has unlocked the storage room door and allowed Rouslan to escape, he accuses a junior hotel staff member, before punching him.

The police arrive and swarm the hotel, while Daniel carries a badly beaten Rouslan down the stairwell to his car in the underground parking lot.

The site's critical consensus reads: "Thoughtful, unpredictable, and overall gripping, Eastern Boys fills its sprawling running time with compelling themes and sharply drawn characters brought to life by powerful performances and deft direction.

[1][6][7] Guy Lodge, reporting from the Venice Film Festival for Variety, praised its versatility, calling it "by turns a frightening home-invasion drama, a tender love story and a tense hide-and-seek thriller".