The Mudge Boy
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Movie Reviews of The Mudge Boy
Movie Review: Mesmerizing character study with perfect performances
Summary: 5 Stars
Writer/director Michael Burke's "The Mudge Boy" is a small wonder--a methodically paced, nearly plotless meditation on loneliness, grief and the pain of being an outsider in a small town that is the only home you've ever known.
Duncan Mudge (Emile Hirsch), make no mistake about it, is one strange kid, and he would be regardless of where he was growing up. Unfortunately for him, it's in a small country farm town where the only kids his age seemingly are a gang of unruly, bored troublemakers. Making matters worse for Duncan, he is an obvious momma's boy whose mother has just died and whose father (Richard Jenkins) is a taciturn, emotionless type who doesn't understand or connect with his son on any level. Their relationship deteriorates further when Duncan, who obviously misses his mother greatly, takes to wearing her fur coat to bed and trying on her makeup. He also has a strange (to say the least) relationship with his mother's favorite chicken, whose head he tends to stick in his mouth (something about calming the chicken down). Then one day he starts hanging out with one of the town punks, a randy farm boy played by Tom Guiry ("Mystic River"), who is so supremely sexual in nature even the farm animals are not safe from him. He and Duncan, who is starving for love and attention, begin a tentative (and extremely homoerotic) friendship that turns on a shocking act of violence and degradation that will transform them both forever.
"The Mudge Boy" is definitely not for everyone. Methodically and hypnotically paced, it plays more like a French film than anything I have seen from this country in a long time. Many minutes go by in which very little, if anything happens and the supporting cast (all of whom are excellent) is made up of very average-looking characters who look like they just stepped out of the Appalachian Mountains, which is refreshing but will come across as off-putting to some. And then there's the relationship with Duncan and that chicken, which is unbelievably strange and leads to an ending that many people will absolutely hate and not understand, although after seeing the film twice, I must say it is honest and I cannot see the film ending any other way.
The real joy here is the performances. As Duncan, Emile Hirsch gives an eye-opening performance and is totally believable as the town oddball. Those who know him only as the handsome, charismatic prep school student in "The Emperor's Club" or the aspiring politician in "The Girl Next Door" may not even recognize him, even though he wears no makeup and changes his appearance simply through facial expression and a rather vacant look in his eyes. And Tom Guiry is a revelation as the older "friend." He is overtly, swaggeringly sexual, and entirely believable as a white trash farm kid. It is hard to believe this is the same actor who got his start as a child actor playing all-American kids in "The Sandlot" and "Lassie." This film, and his similar knockout role in "Mystic River" portends a bright future for this talented young man. And the wonderful character actor Richard Jenkins has one of the best roles of his career as Duncan's grieving father, who finally manages to connect with his son and give him the love he needs when he most needs it. There is no way it will happen, given the extremely limited release of this film and the fact that Strand Releasing probably has no money for Academy Award advertising, but I truly believe he deserves a supporting actor Oscar nomination for his performance.
"The Mudge Boy" will undoubtedly be marketed on DVD as a gay-themed film, but I think that is unfair to the film and gay audiences. Duncan probably is gay, but might also just be looking for love any place he can get it, while Guiry is simply a sexual magnet who would have sex with anything available if need be. Anyway, the film transcends that genre and works primarily as a meditation on loneliness and ostracism. It's definitely at times as strange as its main character. Cosmopolitan viewers, of whom I am one, will find much to like. Others, well, you have been warned. ***** (out of *****)
Movie Review: A Quietly Brilliant Little Film About Coping and Other Atrocities of Living
Summary: 5 Stars
Michael Burke both wrote and directed this first class, finely wrought exploration of coming of age in the emotional battlefield of rural bigotry. Rarely has so much been said so successfully with so little dialogue. Burke is clearly a gifted filmmaker about whom we should be hearing much! The film opens with what appears to be an idyllic country road over which a person on an old bicycle is delivering eggs. As the credits are ending we see the person on the bicycle walk up a steep incline then fall to the ground. As the actual film opens we discover that this person was the mother of Duncan (Emile Hirsch in a career making performance), a fourteen year old young lad who is left mourning with his distant father Edgar (Richard Jenkins). Unable to wholly cope with the loss of his mother, Duncan holds closely to her remnants - a chicken as a pet who his mother taught him could be calmed by putting the chicken's head in Duncan's mouth, an old fake fur coat he wears to bed, and some kitchen skills he learned at her side. Edgar is resentful that Duncan isn't more helpful on their small farm and is shaken by observing Duncan's means of mourning his mother.
Duncan is a loner, hungry for relating, and encounters neighboring Perry (Tom Guiry, in another gripping performance), a seemingly macho kid who apparently is beaten (if not more) by his low-class father. The two bond, slowly, out of mutual needs. Perry defends Duncan's ridiculing by the local rowdy kids and even encourages Duncan to join the drinking bouts with the group. Yet Duncan remains an outsider, longing to be included, and when certain events occur with Perry (Perry urges Duncan to put on his mother's wedding dress in the secrecy of the barn and then progresses to having Duncan perform sexual acts with him, declaring all the while that he, Perry, is not gay...) only to have the incident be partially discovered by Duncan's father. At odds with what to do with his strange acting son, Edgar forces Duncan to work at meaningless jobs on the farm, help with the haying, and makes Duncan observe the burning of the mother's clothes and belongings.
Duncan seeks Perry's consolation after the above events and despite Perry's homophobic comments, Duncan manages to gain the kiss from Perry that he so desires as a resurrection of affection desperately missing in his life. Perry is further abused by his own father and participates to a degree in an incident of harassment by the local rowdies of Duncan and his pet chicken. It is the method in which this final confrontation ends that speaks so strongly about Duncan's needs and Perry's buried feelings. After the confrontation Duncan rides his bicycle home to where his father finally perceives the agony chewing Duncan's soul and the movie ends in one of the most life affirming moments ever captured on film.
The photography is magnificent, the musical score is spare and enhancing, and the acting on the part of every member of this well directed cast is superb. This is a film that deserves wide audience exposure, and especially for those young people who are struggling with their sexuality in the ugly isolation surrounding the lives of the main characters of this excellent film. Grady Harp, February 06
Movie Review: "What is wrong with you, boy!"
Summary: 5 Stars
The fifteen-year-old Duncan (Emile Hirsch) and his laconic father Edgar Mudge (Richard Jenkins) are reeling after the death of the most important person in their life. Duncan's mother and Edgar's wife died suddenly, whilst biking some farm eggs to her neighbor. An alcoholic, she was the glue that tethered this family together, and her death has left Duncan and Edgar emotionally fragile and at a loss.
It isn't only his wife's passing that is bothering Edgar; he notices that Duncan's a "different" kind of boy - sensitive, kindly and delicate. Duncan constantly dotes on his pet chicken and dresses in his mother's clothes, perhaps in an effort to stay connected to him mom. At church - where he sings out of tune - a neighbor in their tiny farm community comments on how Duncan is the spitting image of his mom.
Duncan is soft, not in an effeminate way; it's just that he has an intuitiveness and a compassion that places him at odds with some of the older and rougher boys, who mock him, and call him "weird" and question his sexuality, something he's already tormented over. Was Duncan a mama's boy? Well, we're not really sure. Obviously there was incredible love between them both, but it's a love that his father is unable to replicate.
Edgar worries about his son and he loves him dearly, but he's is clueless about how to help him. He tries to get him to help out around the farm in an effort to toughen him up. He also encourages Duncan to go out with his older friends, the ringleader of which is Perry (Tom Guiry), a butch and macho town stud who likes to brag about his sexual conquests. Perry's bravado is a cover-up for his scary feelings toward Duncan, and it's only a matter of time before their relationship reaches a crisis.
Mudge Boy is the perfect example of understatement, a tale of bourgeoning same sex attraction, and also a titular exploration of the isolation of farm life. Deeply religious, Edgar could be the fire and brimstone type of father; instead he's a thoughtful, considerate and caring man, who is at a loss at how to deal with his eccentric son. Hirsch, who projects a shy modesty, is perfectly cast as Duncan - a boy who is somewhat out of his depth with the people around him, an outcast with many quirks and eccentricities.
At times, Mudge Boy can be difficult to watch, there's a quasi-rape scene, where the result of some teenage sexual experimentation reaches an ugly climax. But writer-director Michael Burke is always sensitive to his subject matter, beautifully rendering his protagonists' dysfunctions and setting them against a bucolic backdrop of Vermont farm land with it's meadows, tumbling down barns and cow patches.
Whether Duncan is sweetly ingratiating himself and getting drunk with the local in crowd, or sucking on the head of his pet chicken, he's a character who many of us will probably be able to relate to. He's desperate to fit in, confused about his bourgeoning sexuality and is undoubtedly a troubled and confused soul. The final denouement, when Duncan is forced to confront the evils of small town bigotry is absolutely heart wrenching, as is the teary and world-weary reconciliation with his father. Mike Leonard May 06
Movie Review: Heartfelt, Disturbing, Sexy & True
Summary: 5 Stars
As a short film this story was provocative and interesting. As a feature it is subtly astonishing. The story of a boy in love with a chicken who is also realizing his gay desires and persona---this amazing concoction is deeply moving.
The writer/director is an original in the best way. No scene is longer or shorter than needed. No camera angle not well-thought out and interesting. The pacing is perfect. And the acting is revelatory.
Richard Jenkins, who is always superb, is deeply moving as a grief-struck husband and clueless father. Emile Hirsch, as the lead character, is right on the money. His innocence is the key to the story. It is the story. Emile Hirsch might very well be the new River Phoenix. Every single thing he does rings as absolutely, perfectly true.
Bravo to all involved!
Movie Review: The Mudge Boy
Summary: 5 Stars
One of the most moving coming age films I have ever seen! The Mudge Boy is the "different," or in this case gay boy, in a small town and the struggles he experiences in his high testosterone town and with his father whose feelings and love for his son are imprisoned by his macho. The power and intensity of growing up "different" was written in such a strong and touching way that the film has stayed with me long after seeing it. I am going to buy it immediately when it comes out on DVD. The Mudge Boy is a film that should become a classic in gay filmmaking and should be required viewing for gay studies classes. If there is ever an official membership into the proverbial "Queer" club, the film should be given along with the "membership" card.