DREAM BOY (2008) w/German hard encoded subtitles NOT on DVD

DREAM BOY (2008) w/German hard encoded subtitles (taken from another source; thank you whomever !!

AWESOME MOVIE, DON'T MISS IT.

WATCH THE TRAILER FIRST? CLICK RIGHT BELOW:

http://www.gaybytes.com/2008/11/dream-boy-trailer.html
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I highly recommend Dream Boy, but prepare to go through an emotionally wrenching and devastating experience.

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Actors: Stephan Bender, Nathan Owen, Beckman Randy, Maximillian Roeg, Roy, Thomas Jay, Ryan Harland, Diana Scarwid, Vivian Randy Wayne Burke



Directors James Bolton Director

Writers James Bolton Screenplay (adaptation)

Jim Grimsley Source Material (from novel: "Dream Boy")

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SYNOPSIS REVIEW:

Set in the 1970’s rural south, James Bolton’s lyrical film, Dream Boy, begins as a sweet teen courtship, the twist being both teens are boys!



Nathan, a painfully shy and awkward fifteen year old has recently moved next door to Roy, the hunky, honest yet sexually naïve seventeen year old school bus driver. Nathan’s crush is reciprocated and the two begin to learn about one another mostly via what they do not say.



The clumsy, curious and kind way the opening scenes are handled is a refreshing tonic to many films of this nature. But an ominous tone is established early on, setting the stage for a major shift.



We soon learn the reason for Nathan’s odd and awkward nature (as well as why he is more sexually knowledgeable than Roy) have everything to do with his abusive father.



Based on the best-selling novel by Jim Grimsley, Dream Boy tells a story of awakening physical and emotional desire that take a terrible turn late in the story. Which boy is the ‘dream boy’ for which boy is one of the many questions the film asks. It also probes the effects of sexual abuse on a small family that has nowhere but prayer to turn in order to deal with such horrible realities. I only wish the story had allowed for a more complex ending that was true to the domestic story as well as the love story. ** possible gay interest **



The film is poignant and piercing. Bolton’s script is perfectly sparse and his direction is meticulous and powerful. And the score is understated and wonderfully effective.



Stephan Bender and Maximillian Roeg are to be commended for outstanding work—the kind of natural and honest acting one rarely sees anymore. Bender embodies Nathan completely, both physically and mentally. And Roeg has the perfect jock exterior, but such a loving quality about him, it’s jarringly mesmerizing. The two have a strange and wonderful chemistry.



********SPOILER ALERT***********

Do not read on if you do not want things about the ending revealed.



As much as I love a good emotionally crippling film ending, I felt Nathan’s final humiliation was gratuitous and cruel. Perhaps it’s because I had come to love the character so much as wanted him to escape his horrific genetic burden. Maybe the filmmakers felt he needed to be martyred via being put out of his misery and returning as an angel of sorts. But I still felt cheated and angry. To show us a boy who has been victimized his entire life finally find love only to be raped and murdered because of who he is (by a character who is sketchily realized at best). It was a bit too much.



The final ten minutes is also narratively confusing and apparently the book’s ending is as well (I have not read it). So maybe we are meant to bring our own ending to the film. I must tell you, happy-ending hater that I am, I wanted Roy to find out about Nathan’s dad and take Nathan away. And the two boys could live hopefully ever after in a big city somewhere! Now, how pathetically Hollywood is that?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Reviewed by Frank J. Avella