Friday, January 5, 2018

Boys in the Trees, Werewolves Stalk You

How many of you still suffer pangs of guilt from indiscretions or misbehavior in your earliest years. Sure, maybe you were a pre-teen or an adolescent engaging in misdeeds or cruelty. Fortunately, no one can rightly expect anything from those youngsters.  Maybe you betrayed a friend at the age of ten.  Perhaps you shoplifted at the age of 11.  Maybe you contributed to hurtful gossip at the age of 12.  Here is the good news.  If you still feel guilty about those wrongs...you have goodness in you.  The emergence of what you thought was adulthood conned you into betraying goodness.  Decades later, the guilt strikes out at you.  Here's a film for you, 2016's "Boys in Trees."
Corey (Toby Wallace) has dreams of leaving suburbia in Australia and go to college in New York. He is passionate about his photography.  Uh oh, he is a biggie in a skateboarding gang which bullies the vulnerable, smokes weed at will, and has no enemy to worry over.  The Wolves, they call themselves. Jango (Justin Holborow) is Corey's right-hand man, and also protector.  When Corey desires to grow wings and flee the coop...well, Jango pulls him back in.  Why would Corey want to leave all this? Ambition? Or maybe he needs to run away...but from what?
Halloween is here and youths are dressed in menacing costumes. The monsters seem to beckon Corey...but to what?  Here comes Jonah (Gulliver McGrath)...an uncool and meek lad who just invites scorn and bullying.  A long time ago, Corey and Jonah were best friends forever...then Corey became a cool kid.  By some bizarre events, Jonah and Corey are able to revisit their pasts and get many unanswered questions answered.  The Wolves see Jonah as a threat to their possession (Corey) and will do anything to separate these two former friends.
An ominous Halloween motif will guide Jonah and Corey through a most uncomfortable journey.  In this surreal tale, monsters (real and imagined) will snipe at our protagonists.  Uh oh...this tale doesn't seem to be heading to an ending filled with sunshine and lollipops.  Exactly what happened a long time ago that ended the friendship between Corey and Jonah?  Why has Jonah sought out his old friend at this point in time?  Are the horrific images that traipse throughout this film a foretelling of tragedy and fright?  Not the feel good film of the decade, "Boys in Trees" will take you on a journey through some of the more uncomfortably elements of your youth.  Beware...the world has forgiven you your youthful transgressions...but you have not.

3 comments:

  1. This movie was a critics darling 2 years ago. I remember reading a lot about it. Apparently, like Get Out, this appears to be horror plus a message. Good review, Christopher.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Never heard of it & it sounds way interesting actually & surprisingly weighty. Very nice review Christopher, gonna seek this one out & thanks for the heads up.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great review, definitely piqued my interest! I'll be watching this next after my daughter has stopped torturing me with chick flicks �� Now THAT'S the real horror ������

    ReplyDelete