22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Dreamlike..., March 30, 2009
This review is from: Dream Boy [PAL] (DVD)
When I read the book I considered it one of the best I had ever read and I can say the same for the film. Beautifully photographed, great acting and one of the most faithful adaptations of a story to the screen since Brokeback Mountain. Strongly recommended!
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Abuse and Transformation in the Bayous, August 25, 2010
"Dream Boy" is a film based closely on Jim Grimsley's 1995 book of the same name.
Passive high school sophomore Nathan (Stephan Bender) moves again with his protective mother Vivian (Diana Scarwid) and unstable father Harland (Thomas Jay Ryan), this time to the town of St. Francisville, Louisiana. Neighbor Roy (Maximillian Roeg), a regular guy high school senior, gets to drive their school bus to and from school, allowing the new neighbors to get a good look at each other.
After cutting a deal in which Roy trades his math tutoring skills for Nathan's skills at tutoring English, they swiftly discover they have much more to offer each other.
Out at the local swimming hole, Roy introduces Nathan to two buddies, assertive Burke (Randy Wayne) and easy-going Randy (Owen Beckman), who have been observing Roy getting closer over time to Nathan. Burke, who might have an unspoken interest in Roy himself, tests the waters by seeming to try to throw non-swimmer Nathan into the water. Roy rises to the challenge, and Burke backs off.
After some harrowing trouble at home, the abject Nathan joins Roy, Burke, and Randy on an multi-day camping trip through marshy Louisiana. Roy tells some scary stories. They pair up in tents. All seems to be going well.
Then the foursome come across the abandoned Kennicott plantation house. Is it haunted? Let's find out. Nathan seems to sense some things. The story then veers through heedlessness and violence to a supernatural but partly-happy ending where the relationship of Roy and dreamy, live-in-his-head Nathan is transformed. Different people will feel differently about the resolution, which is slightly different from the book's.
The story, acting, locations, and sets are generally good. Bender and Roeg both do well as the leads. The setting appears to be in the 1970's or 1980's, as there is no electronic gear around anywhere. One is reminded how lush and devoid of people the muddy Louisiana countryside can be. The ambient homophobia is nowhere explicitly expressed but is universally assumed. There are skin scenes for Roy, Nathan, and Burke, all of whom are lookers. There are several sex scenes, not all pretty.
The only extras are trailers to three other movies. The director (James Bolton) was quoted in a "Bay Area Reporter" review as saying the production was bedeviled by the homophobia of the current Louisiana locals. (The state government was helpful, though.) A commentary might have been educational.
It was curious that on my DVD feature play begins with a PG-13 rating announcement, whereas the cover said (correctly) the film is R-rated.
Both the book and movie forms of "Dream Boy" are recommendable.
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Reality and Dreams and Where They Intersect, August 27, 2010
This review is from: Dream Boy [PAL] (DVD)
Back in 1995 Jim Grimsley published DREAM BOY, the second novel of his continuing examination of the coming of age in the South and followed by the equally popular COMFORT AND JOY, BOULEVARD, FORGIVENESS, MY DROWNING etc. It took many years of for James Bolton ('Eban & Charley', 'The Graffiti Artist') to decide to adapt this story to the screen, and while Bolton elected to replace much of the lyricism of Grimsley's prose with extended periods of non-verbal communication in the screenplay, the story of two high school kids coming to grips with a mutual attraction in the dank repressive aura of the South manages to still come through intact.
Nathan (Stephen Bender) is a quiet, reclusive sophomore in high school who is settling in to yet another move by his alcoholic, Bible-pounding, abusive father (Thomas Jay Ryan) and his sympathetic mother (Diana Scarwid). Next door lives handsome jock Roy (Maximillian Roeg) who befriends Nathan, shares homework, and when he is not with his girlfriend, offers Nathan rides in the school bus he drives. Exchanges of glances and the growth of mutual attraction between the boys lead to a very private but sincere physical relationship: Nathan does not share with Roy that he has suffered sexual abuse from his father. Roy and his buddies - Burke (a very promising Randy Wayne) and Randy (Owen Beckman) - begin to join the boys on swimming gigs and finally a camping trip that includes visitation of an old deserted and possibly haunted plantation house. What happens in this mysterious place provides the climax of the story - a brutal surprise ending that then transports the film into another dimension - a region the viewer must decide is satisfying or not.
There are some fine moments in this little low budget movie and the presence of Maximillian Roeg, Diana Scarwid, and Randy Wayne lifts the cast to a higher level of competence. Whether or not the viewer is willing to go along with the ending will make the vote for or against the film. Bolton does have a fine touch with stories about the coming out of young men in his films and his ability to capture the Gothic atmosphere of the South is solid. Grady Harp, August 10
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