Director: Alma Har’el | Cast: Shia LaBeouf, Lucas Hedges, Noah Jupe, FKA Twigs, Martin Starr, Laura San Giacomo | US Drama
Shia LaBeouf has always been one of the most complex stars in the Hollywood firmament. His stunts and tantrums are well known in film circles and in this sincere and deeply tender drama, playing his own father, he tries to illuminate a troubled childhood and the ensuing fallout. His young self Otis is played gamely by an angelic-like Noah Jupe.
Honey Boy is LaBeouf’s second film this year, following on from The Peanut Butter Falcon. The title refers to his nickname as a child growing up in a motel-style bungalow where he shared the only room with his father, a circus entertainer who actually lived off his son’s work as a stunt artist. The feature debut of Israeli-American documentarian Alma Har’el, the film flips backwards and forwards telling its story in atmospheric visuals and impressionistic vignettes fleshing out a dysfunctional childhood where as a 12-year old child he was on the receiving end of constant verbal and often physical abuse from his ex-alcoholic father (LaBeouf sports a paunch and comb-over), a disillusioned ex-circus clown who continually badmouths and harangues him: “How do you think it feels to have my son paying me?” he says, and Otis (sagely replies’ “You wouldn’t be here if I didn’t”.
Har’el establishes the environment of ‘toxic masculinity’ but never really delves deeply into this subject matter of his trauma, only lightly touching on Otis’ therapy sessions with Laura San Giacomo’s psychiatrist Dr Moreno, once he becomes a young actor played with a stinging intensity by Lucas Hedges.
What the film lacks in depth it certainly makes up for in soul and LaBeouf’s well-constructed script makes for an impressive and heartfelt tale of emotional woe and comparative deprivation, Har’el’s direction is assured but occasionally needed to slow down a bit and allow us time to contemplate this fraught emotional scenario.
The film’s opening sequence follows the grown-up Otis during his counselling sessions for a PTSD diagnosis, and then delves back to the past where the pre-teen often demonstrates a maturity beyond his years, in the rather squalid home where he gets up at 4am to be shuttled to the film set for a full day’s work, before returning to his joyless home life.
LaBeouf creates an authentically loathsome character of his father James, wallowing in self-pity and regret, and we feel for Jupe’s vulnerability and quiet desperation that never resorts to peevishness. It’s good to know that LaBeouf’s talents have finally superseded his public image with this visually nuanced and affecting portrait of childhood trauma. MT
ON RELEASE NATIONWIDE FROM 6 DECEMBER 2019