With the advent of New Queer Cinema, there have been so many gay coming-of-age films, it can seem as if there are distributors releasing nothing but gay coming-of-age films. More male than female, presumably because there are still three or four men to every woman working in film. (Back in the day, studios like Republic Pictures seemed to make nothing but ‘Bromantic’ Westerns, so . . . plus ça change?) That said, Danish writer/director Søren Green finds fresh paths in the well trod tropes of 'emo' adolescent alienation, with Noa Risbro Hjerrild excellent as a 16-yr-old kid already struggling with his sense of self when he’s sent to spend the summer with his grandparents while Mom goes to work in Italy. Other than his skateboard, he feels abandoned by everything he’s close to when an already bad situation takes a turn for the worse and he’s shuttled off to his estranged father and his unwelcoming new family, as his mentally failing grandmother has a medical crisis. Hardly a surprise to find the boy ‘acting out’ (though how to run away from home when you’re basically homeless?). Desperate to feel something, he starts self-harming, and a mutual attraction with a thirty-something painter his grandfather (a glazier) knows from work also peters out when the man pulls back from this kid. He likes him too much to cross a line, though the kid lies and tells him he’s 19. Even a local sex worker says he’s not his type. That ‘type’ being a paying customer; an idea the kid picks up on. Under Green’s thoughtful handling, none of this feels forced or exploitive as we watch him hit bottom. Thank goodness for the Danish health system! Effective, touching, believable in ways you thought long over-milked. Much helped by spot on casting from the boy on down.
DOUBLE-BILL/LINK: If Luc & Jean-Pierre Dardenne took on the subject, it might be a lot like this in tone if not in style & technique. Try their breakthru LA PROMESSE./’96 https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2014/09/la-promesse.html
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