Boys in the Trees

<<

Under the Radar

>>

This isn't part of my Halloween special, but once again, I've found an interesting Halloween title through Netflix. However, I'll forewarn the non-artsy crowd right now that there is some pretty deep symbolism going on here with some pretty confusing scenes. I usually meet "artsy' somewhere in the middle. Basically, if it speaks to me, I like it. And this one... well, it spoke to me in a pretty big way.

The film's main focus is a young man named Corey (Toby Wallace). On Halloween, he and his skateboarding buddies head to the skate park for some fun, but have a run-in with a boy named Jonah (Gulliver McGrath). While the rest of the group, lead by a punk named Jango (Justin Holborow), give Jonah a hard time (an understatement, really), Corey holds back, but is eventually told by Jango that if he didn't give Jonah any shit, he wasn't a "wolf". In other words "be mean to this kid or you won't be popular and can't hang out with us" - typical bully standpoint.

Later that night, after terrorizing the neighborhood, Corey finds himself walking away from the crowd only to run into Jonah again. Jonah tells Corey that he should walk him home so as to make up for being such an asshole for so long. We make the connection that these two were once happy go lucky friends when they were kids and have drifted in a bad way. This is mostly done by Jonah pushing a Halloween game called "Cocytus" on him, in which they dare each other to do various scary things while telling scary stories. During this, they also reminisce about their pasts and discover that they're not so different from each other.

This does lead to a LOT of strange imagery that the average viewer may not be able to wrap their heads around. I'm still trying to interpret a lot of it, myself, but I do think that I get it for the most part. It likes to lead you down a confusing path, but by the end, you can start to fill in the blanks with your imagination - something I always enjoy if it's done well.

Story aside, this movie has all the beautifully dark atmosphere of Halloween night throughout it. It gets a bit eerie and mysterious at points as it plays throughout the whole night, and they head into spooky places as they play their game. I particularly enjoy a story Jonah tells about a girl who wanders into a tunnel never to be seen again. They stand outside of this tunnel, looking in, and all you see is the pitch black depths of it. The dare is to wander in and light a match or a lighter, and when you do, you'll see the girl in front of you screaming a scream that you'll never forget. Some of the other stories are told as life fears, particularly the fear of growing up.

Using the right mind-set, one can look deeply into this story and figure it all out, no matter how bizarre it gets at times. But I guarantee that some people will leave this movie thinking it was a bit too much of a mind-f&%k. I will say that I actually watched it through twice, and I would recommend doing the same - unless of course you just hated it the first time through.

So, if you're the artsy type, looking for a good Halloween story that involves a bit of nostalgia, I say give this a try. It's not a Halloween movie for everyone, but for those who appreciate a good art film as well as the holiday in general. If you prefer being spoon fed (which isn't always a bad thing, don't worry) then I would probably avoid it because there's a lot of viewer interpretation going on here. On a personal level, I found that Jonah was a character that I could relate to, the overall atmosphere was great, and it's a good coming of age story altogether as it manages to dig pretty deep into your emotions. I think with more viewings, my rating could climb, but for now there's still some stuff my brain needs to sort out.

4/5

---