Cultural Mining

Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.

First crush… first love… first kiss. Some things we never forget.

This week, I’m looking at three new coming-of-age movies about first-time lovers. There’s girl meets boy in 1980s suburban NY, girl meets girl in early 2000s scenic Oregon, and boy meets boy in present-day Australian outback.

Leviticus

Wri / Dir: Adrian Chiarella 

It’s a desolate, isolated town in the Australian desert. Naim (Joe Bird: Talk to Me) is a scrawny teen who doesn’t like it there much. He lives with his pious Christian mum (Mia Wasikowska) but has made few friends since they moved there. One day he’s wandering around a vacant lot beneath high tension wires, where he runs into Ryan (Stacy Clausen), a class mate. Ryan is taller and tougher than Naim, not afraid of broken glass windows, or snakes in the grass. His bravado rubs off on Naim, and together they explore a rundown warehouse. They break things, throw around hazardous metal parts, and eventually end up fighting. The fight turns to wrestling which then turns to kissing and making out. Maybe this town isn’t that bad, thinks Naim. Could this be love? But when he spies Ryan kissing Hunter the preacher’s son (Jeremy Blewitt), he feels angry and betrayed. He reports their sinful liaison to the preacher.  Same-sex anything is totally verboten in this one-horse town. Here’s where things get weird. 

You might expect the church to ship them all off to a “conversion therapy” camp somewhere to “fix” their sexual orientation, right? Uh-uh. This place chooses a different path, a more diabolical one. They call in an expert, who casts a spell that sets loose an invisible doppelgänger, that only the victims can see. The demon, looks, acts, speaks and feels exactly like the one you love… and then proceeds to strangle you. Neither Naim nor Ryan want to be near each other… but they also can’t bear keeping apart; they’re totally in love. Will their identical, invisible demons end up killing them both? Or is there a way of beating this devil?

Leviticus is a dark, chiller-thriller, equal parts romance and terror. There are lots of gay coming-of-age stories, and small-town horror movies, but I‘ve never seen one that combines the two quite like this; totally original and terrifying.  The two mains — dark-haired Byrd and  blond Clausen, suggest a new sort of Heated Rivalry dynamic, and Mia Wasikowska is positively chilling as the religious mom.

Australia is turning out some really good horror lately — Talk to Me, The Babadook, Bring Her Back — and while not quite as scary as those, Leviticus does have great characters and lots of shocks and twists, not just horror. I like the look of the movie — amazing scenes filmed through screen doors and at dusky bus stops — and the locations, lighting and music. Along with some good creepy cult-y, churchy stuff, too.

I like Leviticus a lot.

Girls like Girls

Wri/Dir:  Hayley Kiyoko

It’s the early 1980s. Cole (Maya da Costa) is a young high schooler who has just moved north to from San Diego. She’s been introverted and depressed since her mom died. Now she’s in Oregon with her divorced dad (Zach Braff) her only living relative. They barely know each other. One day, Coley is biking around when she sees a bunch of kids at the local diner. They’re all popular and good looking, and one of them, Sonya (Myra Molloy) calls her over. They end up riding in a car to a swimming hole where they all splash around. Coley gets thrown into the water by an aggressive skater named Trent (Levon Hawke). She feels bullied and tricked, but Sonya makes it up to her. Soon they’re hanging together, going for long walks by the train tracks, and exchanging deep important looks. And at night, sharing cryptic messages on their online chat boards (this is the early 2000s) They even have code words they use to state their true feelings (saying “olive juice” instead of “I love you”). 

But Sonya has a reputation to uphold, huge expectations from her mom (she has a shelf full of trophies), and a jealous boyfriend to handle. So she spins like a weathervane: one day she’s loving and tender, the next she ghosts Cole for no apparent reason. Are they a couple… or even friends? Does Sonya like her or not? Are these true feelings or just an experiment? And can two girls fall in love within this oppressive world of parents, friends and school?

Girls like Girls is a simple, bittersweet coming-of-age romance, set in the not-so-distant past. Somehow, 20 years ago is like a different world — one without smart phones and social networks.  Maya da Costa has a more developed character; her Coley deals  with the death of one parent and meeting another, along with adjusting to a new place, exploring her sexuality and first love. Myra Molloy gives us a more confident Sonya, but one with lots of inner angst. 

This movie is based on a YA novel, which was based on a music video, which was based on a song called Girls like Girls, all of which were written by Hayley Kiyoko, who has a big fan base — probably pretty young — who should find lots to love in this movie.

Girls Like Girls is a cute and tender, if largely uneventful, coming-of-age story. 

Nice.

The Legend of Juan Jose Mundo

Co-Wri/Dir: Michael Walker

It’s 1984, a time of scrunchies and mixed tapes in a suburban town in Westchester, NY. Julie (Anna Mirodin) is a high school junior at the top of her class. She hangs with her best friend Suzanne (Hannah Kepple) who shares the makeup and dating tips she reads in Cosmopolitan and talks about her crush on the dreamy bartender at the local steakhouse. Suzanne is also Julie’s confidante, who listens to her sexual exploits. The thing is, the cute and smart but shy Julie, has been lying. There are no sexual exploits. She has never even kissed a guy!

Meanwhile, she’s helping to organize a student exchange program with Spain, and is looking forward to meeting the girl who will be staying in her home for the next few weeks. So she’s shocked when she discovers it’s a guy who’s going to be sleeping in her big sister’s bedroom! (She’s gone off to college). Then the students arrive and she finally meets Juan José Mundo (Alexandro Byrd) and she’s blown away. He’s European, dresses funny, and smokes cigarettes. Julie is deeply in lust.  She introduces her to the school and shows him around the town, takes him to house parties, and catches a glimpse of him naked in the shower. But, try as she may, he’s always sneaking off with other girls to give them “Spanish lessons”. Will Juan-jo ever think of her as a woman not a sister? Will Julie ever get laid? And when will she realize that lots of boys who really like her.

The Legend of Juan Jose Mundo is a very funny coming of age Rom-Com set in a nostalgic, suburban 1980s. It’s full of cultural clashes and period gags, but deftly avoids slapstick and gross-out humour. It’s more tender than that. But it also diesn’t gloss over some of the nasty realities of teenage life. Anna Mirodin portrays a believable and totally sympathetic young woman at the cusp of adulthood. Alexandro Byrd is more of a cookie-cutter object of her desire, but suitably funny at appropriate times.  

The Legend of Juan Jose Mundo is a believable and funny blast from the past.  I like this movie, too.

The Legend of Juan Jose Mundo premiered at the Toronto Jewish Film Festival, and Girls Like Girls and Leviticus played at Inside Out and both open this weekend in Toronto; check your local listings. 

This is Daniel Garber at the Movies, each Saturday morning, on CIUT 89.5 FM and on my website  culturalmining.com