NY GCN on THE BOY!
Todd Verow's "The Boy with the Sun in His Eyes," which has its world premiere at NewFest (Jun. 9, 10:00 p.m., SVA 2), marks in some ways a radical new direction for the filmmaker, who burst on the scene two decades ago as an enfant terrible. This compelling and erotic film is an entertaining globe-hopping thriller, yet shares the impassioned self-discovery that marks the best of his previous work.
John (Tim Swain, from Verow's "Between Something and Nothing") meets Solange (Mahogany Reynolds) at the funeral of their mutual friend Kevin (Josh Ubaldi), who committed suicide. Their conversation about knowing someone well carries the subtext of John's knowing very little about himself. Solange hires him as a personal assistant for a European TV program she's hoping to host. Wanting direction in his life, John follows this possibly untrustworthy woman to Paris, Milan, and Berlin. There, he has a series of affairs with handsome but possibly untrustworthy guys.
The situation is not as it seems, but it would spoil the story to say just how. Verow shoots the low-budget film on DV, which gives it intimacy. There are many close-ups of the characters - especially during the numerous sex scenes.
Verow imbues the film with a distinctive atmosphere by deliberately not making it a European travelogue. There are a few street scenes, but most of the action takes place in the nightclubs, restaurants, and bedrooms where John and Solange spend most of their time. This spare style suits the film. Unlike his prior "mood" pieces, this plot-driven drama nicely builds its narrative tension.
Verow establishes a different tone here, but continues to explore issues of identity, love, and betrayal, and these themes resonate. "The Boy with the Sun in His Eyes" may not be as provocative as Verow's previous work, but perhaps that's what makes it so exciting. He challenges viewers to change - just like his characters.
Verow sat down with Gay City News to discuss what was new about working on a film that didn't have the autobiographical qualities of "Anonymous," "Vacationland," and "Between Something and Nothing," all intensely personal works.
"I wanted to take a break from my own stuff," he explained. "This film is based on a novel by James Derek Dwyer and real things that happened to him. It's not autobiographical, but I was very familiar" with the story.
Verow's perspective as a detached observer helped inform his approach to the film, his first literary adaptation since "Frisk," back in 1995. He described John as "a spectator in his own life. He is not really involved in all this crazy stuff that is happening around him." This quality appealed to Verow because, he said, "So many times in life these days, people don't get involved. We watch things, but we don't get absorbed in them."
The passion that characterizes the numerous sex scenes is also a departure for the filmmaker. "It was a conscious decision," Verow said. "I had done so much explicit sex in other movies, for this one the challenge was to make the sex as erotic and sensual and sexy as possible without showing anything. What I wanted to capture in the sex scenes was the intensity of a one-night stand and how it's physical, but at the same time fleeting."
"The Boy with the Sun in His Eyes" succeeds in this respect, and in other ways as well. Verow eschews the traditional genre film, mixing elements of comedy, romance, action-thriller, and drama in one satisfying package.
Despite the ways "The Boy with the Sun in His Eyes" differs from his other work, the filmmaker sees it as another of his coming of age films. "A lot of people don't come of age until much later in life," Verow said. "John's doing everything he's supposed to do," yet he is drawn to the way his friend who committed suicide approached things. "I would hope that people at some point would say, 'Why am I here? What's going on? What's the purpose of my life, and if there is no purpose, what am I going to do?'" Verow concluded.
By: GARY M. KRAMER
05/28/2009
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posted by James Derek Dwyer at 9:26 AM
