Boys On Film: Youth In Trouble

Released: 2013

Shorts Directed By: Carlos Montero, Dee Rees, Grant Scicluna, James Cook, Stephane Riethause, Caru Alves De Souza, Benjamin Parent, Bretten Hannam

Certificate: 18

Reviewed By: Timothy Breach

After a short stay in good ol’ Blighty, we’re back off around the world with Peccadillo Pictures 9th collection of Boys on Film. Do I really need to tell you again that the collection is a collation of short films of varying length, style and genre.

Youth In Trouble is definitely one of the easiest titles to dissect; films about young people in trouble, right? Well yes and no. The term ‘youth’ seems to have been stretched to cover ages from pre-teen up to young-adult. It’s almost disappointing that there isn’t the focus on pre-adolescence, but how much do the films actually fit the notion of youth in trouble?

Well we are thrown in the deep end with, erm, Deep End; a film showing us a boy coming to terms with his brother’s sexuality. I liked the perspective. Yes, we do see the brother coming out and talking things through with his boyfriend, but the focus is very much on the boy. Boy might be stretching it, he’s probably in his early teens. He’s at an age where it’s very easy to be swayed by peer pressure and other peoples views, and he does… at first. Deep End is moving because it’s a testament to the times we live in (at least in the West, where attitudes are changing) and above all else, it shows that whether you like men or women, it shouldn’t affect love between family – it’s a beautiful message. I must also commend Bailey Maughan – great performance!

We’re sticking with the familial theme (but maybe only slightly just within range to be youthful) with Family Affair (Assunto de Família in its native tongue). It’s not what it sounds like… though some would consider friends an extension of their family. The thing that stuck out for me was the messages the film was trying to say about Brazilian culture and attitudes (particularly amongst the working classes); misogynistic and intolerant. Though, for me at least, these messages weren’t concluded and left questions. However Family Affair did introduce these messages well through the setting up of the family dynamic; lazy dad, arrogant brother, ignored mother and polite son. A scene I did like was how the protagonist was made to drink ‘fag water’ (water which has cigarette ash and butts in). It confirmed the brotherly dynamic and introduced the character who later surprises us. Do I tell you? It’s a kiss. It’s sudden, it’s hot and… it should’ve ended there.

Here’s a first for boys on film; a horror. It’s not blood and gore horror and may verge towards thriller but my heart could not take much more of Together. It’s pushing it to call these people youths but it was 20 minutes of pure tension. It was unique in that it’s an LGBT horror and it did what a lot of feature fength Hollywood horrors can’t; it frightened me… well it got my heart pacing and did make me worry that it could happen to anyone. You hear stories like this all the time (the basic premise of the story that is, not the whole thing). Together has a great score which is utilised perfectly along with the use of lighting (or lack of). Everything about it was amazing and I really don’t want to ruin it for you. Go! Watch it! Take a break from this review.

¿Quién no quiere hacer dinero fácil? In English you ask. Fine; who wouldn’t like to make Easy Money? Well if you think about it there are two ways to make a lot of it fast; be a hit-man or be a rent-boy. Well, they’re clearly two of the options presented in Easy Money through a tense case of what seems to be mistaken identity. Will the rent-boy (though he was more of a young man) agree to be a killer? Will the hit-man kill the rent-boy? The performances were on point and helped to develop the atmosphere from awkwardness to fear. That fear then takes a jump into confusion with the twist – I didn’t see it coming, will you? The twist makes the story twisted and though it’s great in terms of the film, it made me feel slightly uncomfortable and I’m not sure if it ended the right way.

Things were going so well and then The Wildling. A short that isn’t bad but it just didn’t do anything for me. I couldn’t connect or get into it. In fact, I was annoyed at times due to the rapping – it might be sweet to them but I don’t get it. It wasn’t the story itself (which is undeniably sweet – love in juvy) that I didn’t like, but the end product that. Something just… didn’t work for me.

It’s quite a shock to go from The Wildling to Colonial Gods. It’s a sharp jump in tone, style and themes. For me the title evoked so much. As part of my degree studies, we covered a module titled North and South: Reporting Africa. Essentially it looked at the portrayal of Africa in the media from pre-colonisation to present day. Together with another module (East and West: Terror, Power and New Journalism), it opened my eyes and made me realise how far we still have to go to achieve equality – though with all the troubles in the world, we may have taken a step back. But back to Colonial Gods. It tried, almost too hard, to be a piece of social commentary; gentrification, classes, immigration – it was hard to take in. I don’t know whether that was because I was seeing deeper or applying my knowledge to assist the storytelling. With so much to say, the relationships and sub-plots became lost. That’s not to say that it’s bad. Far from it. The ending was rather touching. Colonial Gods has power and may be a tool for opening eyes; mine were just already open.

What genre is Brokeback Mountain? (I personally hate categorising films because most are not a single genre). Anyway, one thing it isn’t is a traditional Cowboy film and that’s the start of It’s Not A Cowboy Movie (Ce n’est pas un film de cow-boys). It’s difficult to say a lot about it because it’s dialogue driven. That being said, I found it to be utterly refreshing; two boys talking about the film without any prejudice. Concurrently there are two girls who almost address the real life effects of coming our late. Though the language barrier may have depleted some of the humour, it was light and brilliant in it’s normality.

Prora is an interesting short film. On one hand it’s almost too familiar in the story arc. On the other it utilises its location and characters to give a fresh perspective on an old story; guy 1 wants guy 2, something leads to the guys being intimate, guy 2 freaks out etc etc. What it does well is evoke the sense of exploration and isolation through the use of camera shots and its score. The two characters give amazing performances with subtle movements and expressions, which plays upon a unique angle of the film: the history and tension between France and Germany. This makes it more risque and certainly ensures that it makes its mark on a tried and tested story – and the ending is happyish, right?

The youth is in trouble no more. We have come to the end of yet another collection. As you can now see, the term youth is broadly applied – who decides on the collection title? As a collective it has attempted to give a platform to those whose voices are often unheard. A platform for film-makers to truly say something about the world around them. It tackles subjects from coming out to you family through to social inequality. It spans countries, ages, races and classes. It’s quite broad in that respect, yet many of the films are of such quality that it holds together. In fact I only disliked one short and that was due to a personal disconnect rather than poor film-making. I therefore think that (am I really doing this) Youth In Trouble as a collection is (there’s no going back) the best that Peccadillo Pictures have complied to date. It narrowly ousts Protect Me From What I Want – it has fewer stand out films but is a cohesive whole.