078 REVIEW
Directed by
ALMA HAR'EL
Starring
SHIA LABEOUF
LUCAS HEDGES
NOAH JUPE
Released
6 DECEMBER
ANTICIPATION.
Potential for mawkishness could
be strong.
ENJOYMENT.
Sweet but never sickly –
LaBeouf has never been better.
IN RETROSPECT.
As candid an exploration of
stardom as they come.
sk anyone who was a child in the early 2000s
for the role they most closely associate with
Shia LaBeouf, and odds are they’ll refer
to Louis Stevens, the wacky preteen protagonist
of tween sitcom Even Stevens, or Stanley Yelnats,
the wrongfully-convicted hero in Andrew Davis’
comedy-adventure Holes. In recent years LaBeouf
has become better known for his his off-screen
antics and meme-generating ability than his
acting, with the notable exception of his excellent
performance in Andrea Arnold’s 2016 drama
American Honey.
When it was announced last year that LaBeouf
was to write a screenplay based on his own
experiences as a child star – and that he would be
playing the role of his own father in said film – the
general feeling among fans was one of bewilderment.
Still, with a stellar line-up of young talent including
Noah Jupe (who stole the show in 2017’s Suburbicon)
and indie darling Lucas Hedges, plus Alma Har’el in
the director’s chair, Honey Boy has a lot going for
it beyond that initial pitch. The resulting film is a
sad, surprising, frequently touching and incredibly
personal insight into LaBeouf ’s accelerated youth.
Shifting between 1995 and 2005, the role of
Otis Lort is shared by Jupe and Hedges, playing the
character at 12 and 22 respectively. Following a DUI
charge in 2005, Otis is ordered to attend rehab, and
encouraged by his probation officer to get in touch
with his memories in order to begin the difficult
process of recovery. The hazy, dreamlike quality
of Natasha Braier’s cinematography emphasises
the swirling, semi-unreliable nature of memory,as the film centres on Otis living with his eccentric
father James (LaBeouf, who looks a lot like David
Foster Wallace for some reason) in a rowdy housing
complex. Their relationship is one of extreme
highs and lows. James is an alcoholic struggling
with sobriety, while Otis is frequently forced to
shoulder more responsibility than he can handle,
developing a friendship with his older neighbour
Shy Girl (FKA Twigs) and taking up smoking as a
coping mechanism.
Jupe plays Otis with an astonishingly delicate
balance of world-weariness and wide-eyed naivety,
while 10 years in the future, Hedges is a whirlwind
of anger and pain, somehow more infantile than
Otis in his 12-year-old iteration, implying a sort of
regression brought on by being forced to grow up
so fast. LaBeouf pulls no punches in portraying
his father as a deeply flawed man, but there’s a
tenderness there too – he has an easy chemistry
with Jupe which makes them believable as warring
father and son, but LaBeouf is careful to show his
father’s humanity. James Lort, for all his faults, isn’t
a monster; he’s just a terrible dad.
This feels like an important distinction,
because Honey Boy feels like LaBeouf making
peace with that himself, avoiding self-pity in
favour of self-reflection that comes in the form
of triumphant catharsis. It’s a public exploration
of very private trauma, and works because of the
nuanced performances, as well as the frankness
of his script. Credit where credit is due: LaBeouf
and Har’el have created something truly special.
HANNAH WOODHEADHoney Boy
A