by Nathaniel R
Another Oscar hopeful trailer coming at you. Focus Features will begin the platform release of Boy Erased this November 2nd which is of course a prime Oscar date. December is sometimes too late but November is a sweet spot, rarely too early nor too late exactly if the film is high profile enough with Oscar pedigree. Not that November is easy. There will be a ton of competition for media attention.
We now have the poster with Lucas Hedges praying for a second Oscar nomination to release him of this gay burden? And the trailer has arrived too. The buzz is already strong for the acting which is no surprise with the trio of Lucas Hedges, Nicole Kidman, and Russell Crowe jerking the tears... but can the film itself also impress? The trailer and a Yes No Maybe So breakdown are after the jump...
YES
• Love Russell Crowe's voice in the trailer voiceover. It reminds me of Kyle Chandler's Friday Night Lights voice, only less loving. This looks like a very lived-in performance from him. Artistic comeback?
• "I think about men" is an uncomfortable line as follow up... but coming out is often uncomfortable and strangely worded. So this gets points for feeling true despite, no, because of its awkwardness.
• Naturally we're always a yes for Nicole Kidman. She was sensational in Lion and Killing of a Sacred Deer so this sidebar move into supporting but not uncomplicated mother roles is going well. (Thankfully she's still doing the leading roles, too. This woman loves to work.)
• Lucas Hedges is one of our most promising actors and looks typically strong again. That scene about not hating his father looks like a true corker.
• Lucas Hedges has already proved with Lady Bird that he's adept at playing closeted gayboys
• Bound to be gripping... at least for the intended audience. If only homophobes would see this sort of thing and understand how insane this is!
• Cherry Jones surprise attack! Voice of reason.
• Original Song Oscar campaign alert? "Revelation" by Troye Sivan and Jónsi.
NO
• Not crazy about the earth-tone somber palette. Feels drab and overused. Not fresh!
• All the conversations lately about representation and who gets to tell what stories have missed one important piece of the artistic puzzle: art is about imagination and asking artists of any stripe to only write or express what they know will give us a shit-ton of boring narcissistic art. That said, it bothers me that this creative team has no experience with being an LGBT person because this particularly experience (gay conversion therapy) is hyper hyper specific. I'm curious to see what reactions are like to this from the LGBT community versus how people might react to the far smaller profile The Miseducation of Cameron Post. I didn't totally love the former, which won Sundance, but the writer/director (I loved her first movie Appropriate Behavior) is a member of the LGBT community and so much of her film rang true as to what adolescent gay kids go through sexually and emotionally within religious communities.
MAYBE SO
• Nicole Kidman's look is very costumey. On the other hand, a certain kind of southern women does love to get dolled up.
• What are the supporting characters going to be like? Will they add to the drama or merely be mouthpieces for messages (as in the Cherry Jones bit)
• Is the conversion camp going to be cartoonishly evil? Most real life villains don't actually know that they're villains. It's hard to tell from 2 minutes and 46 seconds how this will play out. It's hard to know because Joel Edgerton's performance tend to be either very restrained or way too broad. Can he direct himself into the middle ground?
Naturally I'm a yes but I do have a few reservations that I hope won't turn into a feeling of "no" when the film arrives. You?