OrlandoAT
Simply, this film is a little known gem of LGBT cinema. The performances are sublime: Emile Hirsch and Tom Guiry playing their roles as realistically and movingly (with the specific characteristics of their role) who manage to make this film an emotional journey that will get more than one reflect on the plight which still face many gay guys around the world. This reflection is another strong point of the film: the rawness that emulates perfectly fine as reality, gives great value to the script and the direction. The photography is excellent, beautiful. But forget about production resources. The script, Duncan's story is a case that can even be a real case of our neighbor. Very well filmed, with a poignant script and first-rate performances, this film is highly recommended as vindicating the LGBT genre.
Vanyel
There are two good aspects of this movie:1. Emile Hirsch's acting really stands out (he's not bad shirtless either)2. It does a good job of showing how forcing yourself into the closet twists you in unpleasant ways.Beyond that, the movie is pointless and goes nowhere, nothing more than a brief window into disturbed lives. They don't get much out of the experience, and neither do we.Since IMDb seems to think that reviews have to be wordy to be worth posting, I'll add that in some places, the movie plods (and I *don't* think movie has to be an action movie to be good: Maurice is one of my favorites). I have to give additional points to Emile for being willing to do some of the things it looks like he did for real with the chicken too (though I doubt the last bit was for real, hopefully).
PWB
This is a remake of the short film Fishbelly White by Michael Burke (1998). The plot line and characters are all the same, but the story is fleshed out in The Mudge Boy.In Fishbelly White, Duncan's character is more homo-erotic; the under-the-track-scene is more deliberate and graphic and explains much of what is left out of The Mudge Boy. In Fishbelly White, Duncan bites the head off his favorite chicken during the pick-up scene with the drunken youths and the rape scene never occurs.The two films make for an interesting comparison of the two director's visions.
drcloke
3 men (2 boys and a grownup) with pain they cannot speak about are pitched against each other - denying what is inside them and trying to change the other. They hurt each other in the process and in the hurt and the feeling of the pain, is their personal redemption. The actor who plays the father is superb in the way he is trying to cope with his own loss and at the same time tries to deal and help a son who is "strange" learning in the end that what is really needed is to openly express his own feelings, help his son vocalize his feelings and pain and to hold onto each other ( as distinct from holding onto the dead mother/wife) and not let go. In the end, it did not matter whether either or both the boys were gay or not - you just cared about them
AD
