siff: dream boy

Film #2 of siff was a disappointment.

Dream Boy is billed as a “coming of age story” involving two gay adolescents who wrestle with their feelings, etc etc. Instead, it is a crybaby story of a miserable teen who is incapable of growing a spine and dealing with his various issues — particularly being molested (at 15-16..) by his father. Instead, he runs to his own demise. He doesn’t “come of age” — he doesn’t grow as a person, he learns nothing and is not a better person at the end of the movie than he is at the start.

I don’t want any gay teenagers to see this movie and think that it is uplifting or in any way a representation of how they should react to pressures and obstacles in their lives. You fight, you don’t flee with your wrists open. You stomp on the faces of people who wrong you, you don’t whimper and cower to them while they rape and beat you to death.

Horrible characters aside, the acting was bad, and the music was awful and overpowering (though perhaps that is more the fault of the weak film than the music, as likely any music would overpower it..)

I rate Dreamboy 1 out of 4 QQs.

UPDATE: I just read The Stranger’s review, which is on-target:

To reduce coming-of-age drama Dream Boy to its base parts: Shy Boy meets Country Boy. They make out. Then they go camping with Country Boy’s homophobic friends. Surprise! The friends are only homophobic because they’re self-hating gays, and secretly also want to have sex with Country Boy. Then there’s violence, and the movie is over. Shy Boy is Nathan (Stephan Bender), who spends the film staring at his shoes and wandering through endless montages involving cottonwood trees and alt-country banjo numbers. Country Boy is Roy (Max Roeg), who spends the film saying folksy words like “yonder” and looking conflicted about liking guys. Clumsy and clichéd from start to finish, this is one to miss.