CHRIS' QUARANTINE RECOMMENDATION OF THE DAY (5/28/20): HONEY BOY

CHRIS' QUARANTINE RECOMMENDATION OF THE DAY (5/28/20): 

HONEY BOY

by Chris La Vigna (@Chris_LaVigna)

Otis (Noah Jupe) takes a lot of hits in HONEY BOY

Among its numerous benefits, art can be a powerful tool for confronting our personal demons. No one knows this better than Shia Labeouf, who began writing the screenplay for today's Q-Rec, the 2019 roman à clef  HONEY BOY, while he was in a ten week, court-appointed rehab program. Labeouf's alcoholism and public meltdowns came to almost completely eclipse his work as an actor in the 2010s, and some wondered whether he'd overcome his issues, or succumb to them. Thankfully, it now seems we can safely say that Shia is turning things around for himself, and this film alone is a testament to his ability to produce great work.

The film begins with a rapid fire montage as we are introduced to Otis (Lucas Hedges) a young actor who works hard and parties even harder. We seem him doing his thing on set, we see him getting some action with a hot actress in his trailer, we see him drinking and partying, and you quickly realize that all of this is happening so fast you can't figure out what parts of this are moments from him acting in a film and what parts are real life and its moving so fast and HOLY SHIT he just crashed his car. And now his hand is badly injured. And now he's drunk and yelling his lungs out in the back of a cop car. Damn, that was fast.

When Otis arrives at the rehab facility, his case worker encourages him to start writing down his past traumas. This sends us back his days as a preteen actor, where a young Otis (Noah Jupe) works on the set of a TV sitcom and lives with his father James (Shia Labeouf) in a cheap motel just off the interstate.  James is bright and energetic and whacky on set, but his youthful energy hides a deep sadness that comes from constantly living in a state of uncertainty when it comes to his father, who is unpredictable and demanding while being emotionally distant to boot. The film switches between scenes of Otis as an adult and as a child, usually showing some of his unhealthy behavior as a man before presenting us with the moments of his childhood that planted the seeds for it.

James (Shia LaBeouf) is... I've got nothing clever here, he's a bad dad.

Jupe does an excellent job of playing a kid in a unique and tumultuous position, prone both to emotional outbursts and long bouts of melancholic silence. Hedges plays such a pitch perfect impression of Labeouf's nervous adult energy that it leads me to believe he spent days shadowing the man, and Labeouf steals the show with his portrayal of his father, a biker/rodeo clown struggling with his sobriety and trying his best to not think about all the pain of his past. 

It's truly eerie how Labeouf seems to both be playing his father and himself at the same time, how we can see and hear some of the actor we know there and realize "oh, so that's where that part of his voice comes from. That's where the manic energy comes from. It's his dad. He's always been carrying parts of his dad with him."

The film is directed by Alma Har'el, who does a good job of filling the film with all sorts of beautiful and poignant moments, particular the sequences where young Otis forms a close bond with a young girl who also lives at the motel (FKA twigs) and seems to be the only person who seems Otis for the beautiful yet obviously hurt soul that he is.

Ultimately, the film ends on a note of hope and reconciliation for Otis, mirroring the bright horizons that lay before Labeouf, and anybody else who manages to process and deal with their traumas. I recommend it to anyone looking to come to terms with their past so they can embrace the future.

HONEY BOY is currently streaming on Amazon Prime.

Director Alma Har'el and writer/star Shia Labeouf at the film's premiere