by Douglas Messerli
Peter Laberge (narrative), Tom Speers (director) Boy Saint / 2018 [8 minutes]
I am not a great fan of cinematic portrayals of overwrought poetry, in
this case a sort of adolescent outpouring of memories by poet Peter Laberge.
A gang of boys consisting of
actors Finn Gillespie, Lenar Gaffney, Lewis Brophy, Scott Brophy, Harry Eaves,
Evan Hamilton, Raymond Scully, run through the wilds of the Irish countryside,
behaving like all such gatherings, somewhat destructively, while wrestling, swimming,
mocking, threatening, and in the process developing their bodies into manhood.
But two of the boys, presumably
Gillespie and Gaffney, become attracted to one another and longingly stare into
each other’s eyes, hoping for an escape from the others to consummate what
might be their boyish love.
In Tom Speers’ endlessly
droning action accompanied McKenzie Stubbert’s overwrought musical score and by
the late-romantic poetic proclamations of Laberge’s writing (“In the beginning
we were one blood. Then the body grew its disagreement like a stem of thorns
inside out.”) the boys don’t have a chance. The gang with which they run won’t
abandon them to themselves for a moment.
This short Irish film is
all about boylove-longing without any real substance. The boys can only stare
at one another with childhood desire in their eyes. The film is pretty to look
at, but frustrating to listen to the with elder poet pontificating on his own
long past love.
Los Angeles, December 6, 2024
Reprinted from My Queer Cinema Blog (December 2024).
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