Honey Boy

    “_________ is a movie like nothing else you’ve ever seen.” So often you’ll hear this phrase thrown around to describe large studio movies. It’s the selling point of countless mainstream blockbusters. “A 3D immersive experience like nothing else you’ve ever seen”, “The CGI will blow you away...like nothing else you’ve ever seen.”, “The event of a lifetime. A finale so epic in scale, it’s like nothing else you’ve ever seen.”--- Sound familiar? I feel like this kind of mindset was something that Honey Boy star, Shia Labeouf was all too familiar with, having been the central star of the Transformers franchise. In his progression as an actor though, we’ve seen his narrative rapidly change as it faded away from the billion dollar franchise filled with toys, video games, etc.--into a career that’s less interested in the what, but obsessed with who. He himself said in a conversation with Kristen Stewart, on Variety’s Actors on Actors, that he is no longer interested in film that puts the focus on the plot over the people. With that tonal shift in his career, him, director Alma  Har’el, and the rest of the cast and crew of Honey Boy, crafted what I believe to be the most human film I’ve ever seen. It goes without saying that the acting is stunning to watch. Some (not all) of the best acting often evokes a sense of documentary like quality. Acting so genuine that you begin to accept it as reality, and the illusion of the "film" fades far away. Noah Jupe, Lucas Hedges, Byron Bowers, and FKA twigs are all equally brilliant, however, it's Shia LaBeouf's work in this film that is so phenomenally groundbreaking. An array of genuine performances brought  to life by director, Alma Har'el.  Given her background in documentary filmmaking, it makes sense why Honey Boy never strikes a false chord The film has more in common with the masterful stage writing of the late Sam Shephard than it does with most any other movie. A genuineness that’s felt as if the movie itself is a soul. It truly is like nothing else I’ve ever felt.

    “Did you know that a seed has to completely destroy itself before it can become a flower?”--A quote from James (Shia Labeouf’s real dad), played by Shia, as he speaks to his son Otis (young Shia), played by Noah Jupe. I believe this quote to be the perfect method of understanding this film’s themes, and to grasp exactly why the movie leaves so many audiences teary eyed as they sit throughout the entire credits, processing exactly what’s going on within them. For anyone unaware, this film is very autobiographical in the sense that it explores Shia LaBeouf’s relationship to his biological father from the age of 12 as well as in his later 20’s. You see, this film deals with a very heavy subject matter that I rarely see explored quite to the depths, or reality, that this film reaches. Parents...or maybe a better way to describe it could be...those that happen to be older than us, and just happen to fall under the obligation of caring for and raising us. As the film clearly explores, not all bad parenting comes from a place of hate and evil. More often than not, it comes from their roots that are sunken deep into pain, doubts, fears, and what they failed to achieve themselves. As revealed in a heartbreaking scene, that takes place at one of James' AA meetings , sometimes it’s them simply trying to provide a better childhood and life than their own… but somehow that just isn’t quite enough. As challenging as all of that may seem, the film dives even deeper to uncover something beautiful that the father and son do share. A friendship. However, as some friendships tend to go, it too shows cracks in its armor. We see envy and frustration constantly boil over in James as he observes the life that he believes he has bestowed upon his son, and the inner turmoil over why that same son can’t acknowledge his constant efforts. The movie is a constant power struggle as Otis fights to receive the love and approval from his father that is desperately missing, all while his father is struggling for something else entirely. Forgiveness. A chance to start over, and live through his son’s success--cause if he can just get his son, Otis, to the stardom he seeks, then maybe Otis could begin to respect him as a dad. But as these things go, personal pride and desires get in the way, resorting to verbal and physical abuse portrayed in the most realistic and non-glamorized way I've ever seen. The writing is genuinely masterful as it weaves through moments of manipulation and guilt, to vulnerability and tenderness. The dialogue embodies its characters who are begging to be heard by one another. But just as reality is, instead of listening and understanding one another, we place pet names on people, such as honey boy, With that, we animate them into a fiction that exists outside of our own reality. A fiction in which we’re the cartoonist that’s allowed to draw people into our own little bubbles and boxes. Expecting them to behave the way we want, compliment us the way we need-- to patch holes in ourselves that are not theirs to patch. 

    With that said, what was the whole point of the “seed has to completely destroy itself” quote? A good amount of this movie is also spent with a much older Otis, played by Lucas Hedges. A time in Shia LaBeouf’s own life when he believed he had met the end of his career. Directors were dropping him from films, nearly sent to a four year prison sentence, and a rage followed by alcoholism that mirrored that of his own father. The shy and sincere twelve year old Otis was gone, and in its place was a young man just as broken and insecure as the father he resented and feared to confront. The majority of the scenes, with older Otis, take place in a rehab, or head camp as Shia has referred to it as. Here we see Otis portrayed as instinctul, fast talking, temperamental, and array of incredibly accurate physical behavior that represent that of Shia’s own. When paired with the backstory of his father, it make it that much more of a revelation to who he was. With this, the audience is treated to a sincere personal story that is just as cathartic for us as it is for the actor in which it’s based around. Honey Boy asks incredibly challenging questions. It asks us to view the destruction of a child’s life, and with that, to reflect on our own destruction. To escape that war with our parent(s), so that we can enter a personal war, and hopefully discover our own self. To be more than just their reflection. To allow that destruction to bring forth growth. However, even more challenging than that, the film asks you to see the strength in returning to them. Without expectations, without hate, without intentions. To return with a much wiser understanding that they too are human. Afterall...parents are just kids with kids. The film ends with the line, “Well, make me look good, honey boy”, as him and his son sit by the pool at the motel, where young Otis grew up.  As painful and heartbreaking as the movie often is, I believe that screenwriter Shia LaBeouf did something even better than answering his father’s request. He understood him.