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Australia 2016
Directed by
Nicholas Verso
113 minutes
Rated M

Reviewed by
Bernard Hemingway
2.5 stars

Boys In The Trees

Synopsis: Hallowe’en in 1997 is the end of high school for friends Corey (Toby Wallace), Jango (Justin Holborow) and the Gromits – the gang who rule the local skateboard bowl where Jango confronts and beats up Corey’s former childhood friend and outsider, Jonah (Gulliver McGrath). Later that night, when all the Hallowe’en characters are out on the streets, Corey encounters Jonah and takes pity on him, agreeing to walk him home. What starts off as a normal walk through empty suburban streets descends into something darker and magical as they embark on a surreal journey through their memories, dreams and fears. But just as their friendship appears rekindled, a tragic truth may mean it’s all too late.

There’s an enjoyable, dreamlike quality to much of this film that, at times, feels like a framework for the ghost stories that Jonah tells Corey on their overly long walk home. But beyond that quality, the story shifts uneasily between the familiar tropes of the boy who must decide between his loyalty to an old friend and his allegiance to his new friend and gang and the more contrived encounters that Corey and Jonah have along their journey which seems simultaneously literal and metaphorical. The supernatural elements arise from the stories that Jonah tells Corey but they never really gel into an overarching idea that satisfactorily brings us to the tragic ending. Moments where we encounter a kind of Day of the Dead celebration, or the intrusion into a recluse’s home seem to exist more for their stylish realisation than for their narrative power and the occasional appearance of the Man in White (Trevor Jamieson) as a kind of spooky indigenous spirit guide is never adequately explained.

Despite the unevenness of the material, the young cast produce strong performances, especially Wallace and McGrath who must wrestle with the events of the past if they are to find a way to reconcile those things that fractured their friendship. Boys in the Trees is not really a horror film, its allusions to ghosts and spirit guides and the spectres of the afterlife notwithsatnding. There are one or two frights to be had along the way, but it’s more a meditation on friendship, peer pressure and the difficulties of growing up in a way that was reminiscent of Stand by Me, Rob Reiner’s 1986 adaptation of Stephen King’s novella "The Body").

It’s unclear to me why this film is set in 1997. Perhaps it’s an era that resonates with first time writer/director Verso.. What’s odd about it, though, is that even though Hallowe’en has become a much bigger deal in Australia in the past few years - shops are filled with costumes and pumpkins and trick-or-treating seems to now be a thing – I don’t recall that being the case twenty years ago (maybe it’s about American sales).  What it does allow, though, is for Shinjuku Thief’s moody and atmospheric soundtrack to be regularly punctuated by a host of ‘90s hits from bands like Spiderbait, Garbage, Leonardo’s Bride and the like (although there’s no reference to Carly Simon’s excellent 1978 album that gives the film its title). It also gives rise to some stylish production design by Robert Webb and atmospheric cinematography by Marden Dean, all of which produces a good-looking, melancholy, moody film but one that suffers from a lack of narrative cohesion.

 

 

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