The Graffiti Artist (2004)
"(Nick is) trying to be truly free
in America. And in 2004 in America, we are anything
but free," - Director James Bolton in HoBO magazine
Languid, brutally honest, poignant,
and utterly breath- taking, James Bolton's "The Graffiti
Artist" is unlike any film you have yet seen. To talk
too much about it before you actually do get to witness
it would only serve to dilute its impressive charms.
Still, as a writer engaged in a discourse about films,
I must indeed write too much about this engaging feature.
So do yourself a favor and find a way to see the film
before you read too much about it. I'll tell you some
things that won't spoil the film first.
The story is about "Nick," an ethnic
teenager who leads a pretty solitary life in the inner
city of Portland, Oregon, where he spends much of
his time skateboarding around the city and, as the
title implies, "tagging" the empty canvas of industrial
space around his neighborhood with graffiti. While
only a couple "events" actually occur within the film's
plot, their presence shake the very foundation of
the characters and serve to call much into question
about life, art, freedom and freedom of expression.
With few words, few plot points and only a minimalist,
documentary-like approach to filmmaking, Bolton creates
a film that is complex, thought- provoking, intimate
and emotionally moving.
Well, that's about it. To tell the
truth, I've already said too much. The next few paragraphs
should be considered spoilers as they will tell much
about the film, so don't read on unless you enjoy
having good films ruined for you or you've already
seen this impressive feature.
Bolton's film is nearly wordless.
It is almost 35 minutes into the 80 minute run time
of the film before anyone even has a conversation.
Bolton is much more concerned with setting a mood
and allowing us to understand that we are being allowed
entree into a very private and personal series of
moments than he is in creating a high-powered, quirky,
indie film. His film is as much about the interior
of its protagonist as it is about the exterior of
a cityscape. For while his characters "tag" the industrial,
decaying and boring landscapes of their exterior existence,
their interior existential angst is much more at the
core of what we are seeing here.
It's no accident that Bolton's young
protagonist here "writes" the word "Rupture" everywhere
his pen or spray-can can etch the letters. Young Nick
is stuck in a claustrophobic and pointless world not
of his making. He doesn't believe in "the system"
or in "laws" yet his anarchy doesn't lead to chaos
and violence but rather to frustration and angst.
Nick wants more than anything to break open the boredom,
the frustration and the disillusionment that he feels
and find something tangible and emotionally engaging
that he can hold on to. For a moment in this film
he comes close to doing just that. But, alas, the
fulfillment of such a desire ultimately remains fleeting.
It's no accident that Nick is gay
and that his sexuality eventually and quietly becomes
so important to the story. In the depths of his angst
and disenchantment with society Nick also finds a
world closed off to him sexually. In fact, the two
worlds of disparity and incomprehension (political
freedom and sexual freedom) exist symbiotically within
him, as it surely does in most gay teenagers. His
questioning of the world around him and how it operates
is never tied directly and overtly into Nick's sexuality
in "The Graffiti Artist" but it is as palpable and
as obvious as Nick's beating heart. When Nick "writes"
"Rupture" on the walls and spaces around him he is
not only suggesting that our political, humanitarian
and economic society needs to cut itself open and
expose itself to reality and address its hypocrisy
but that our societal conventions regarding sexuality
and sexual identity need to be addressed and examined
as well. The word "rupture" also suggests that if
we don't undergo this examination of our societal
volition soon, the system will explode itself and
cause a rupture in the fabric of American society
that will force us to examine what we are doing as
a society regardless. That Bolton can express so much
with this one word written over and over by his protagonist,
further clarified by the minute plot that unfolds
here, is nothing short of amazing storytelling.
When Nick meets Jesse and finds
that perhaps his existential angst might be relieved
by friendship, love and an acceptance of his sexuality,
he moves from writing "Rupture" to writing "Elusive,"
a word that not only expresses how rare it is that
such an evolution could occur but how rare it is that
we actually get to witness it. Nick himself as a character
is that most elusive of all, a gay youth learning
to accept himself and express himself openly and without
shame. This elusive moment, captured by Bolton's camera
in a fashion that is nearly documentarian, seems intimate
and fleeting, as if we have captured something rarely
seen in the camera's eye, a moment when a gay youth
comes out, discovers himself and accepts himself.
Granted, "coming out" films are
a genre that have nearly exhausted themselves in the
gay film marketplace. But Bolton's cinematic exploration
here, while indeed a "coming out" film, becomes that
rarest of the sub-genre, a subtle and understated
masterpiece that neither wallows in angst nor exalts
its characters in celebration as if this one moment
was the be-all, end-all of their existence. In fact,
once that moment is reached, after a brief respite,
the film turns inward upon itself to explore the consequence
the moment has on both Jesse and Nick, each trailing
off on a different and desperate path.
But while it exists, this elusive
moment, where Jesse and Nick come together - sexually
- is one of the most intimate, beautiful and natural
sex scenes ever to exist in a gay film. I am often
amazed at how unnatural a man and a woman engaged
in sexual intimacy seems to me. It just looks odd;
it doesn't seem right at all. Two men together seems
much more natural and even symmetrical to me. It looks
right. (As I guess it should since I am a gay man).
The point is, when Jesse and Nick come together here,
it looks beautiful and absolute. Bolton lenses this
scene with such a personal, intimate and loving eye
that it becomes simply perfect, a crystalized moment
in time where two people come together and express
love and acceptance as realistically as they express
passion and sexual longing. It is a wonderful sequence.
While Ruben Bansie-Snellman and
Pepper Fajans, as Nick and Jesse, aren't particularly
the best actors one could ever hope to find, they
are quite adept at expressing much without saying
a word. Fajans is so boy-next-door hunky and so relaxed
that even though his dialogue is a bit stilted, we
cannot help but believe him as real. Sure, it's easy
to accept him when he pulls Nick close to him and
kisses him passionately and with masculinity; he's
so proverbially straight-acting and so hot that we
want to believe him as gay. But even in his moments
when he is not engaged in such actions, Fajans seems
natural and at ease, almost as if he is playing himself.
It is precisely this realism that makes his sexual
scene even more intense and poignant.
Bansie-Snellman, as Nick, meanwhile,
is simply wonderful. Able to express as much with
his deep soulful eyes as he is with words, Bansie-Snellman
is required to carry the film almost wholly with his
performance. It's no understatement to suggest that
much of the film is simply the young actor engaged
in spray-painting his surroundings with graffiti and
yet rarely does this image become tiresome or redundant.
That Bansie-Snellman is able to engage us so easily,
often simply with his facade, shows just how right
he is for the role. There's a depth and a complexity
to his face that allows to empathize and accept him
easily.
"The Graffiti Artist" is that rarest
of films, a gay movie that isn't simply about being
gay. It isn't simply about being a gay youth and coming
out. The themes here run much deeper and don't even
necessarily have to be related to a homosexual story
to work. This film would work just as easily if Nick
liked girls. The fact is, it just works better and
on a much deeper level because the protagonist is
gay. It adds a layer of angst, intensity and hunger
to the film that only serves its ideals and themes
more successfully. A brave, honest, engaging and emotional
film, "The Graffiti Artist" touches us deeply.
The end of the film is its most
beautifully poetic moment. After being harshly rejected
by his love and spending four months in a juvenile
detention facility for his trouble, Nick returns to
the empty streets of his neighborhood and finds an
unwatched railcar to sprawl his latest masterpiece
upon, a spray-paint can with wings emblazoned with
the slogan "FREE ART." While it might be easy to accept
his message at face value, and many who sees this
piece surely will, we know what Nick really means.
He is calling for "FREEDOM." He is telling us that
it is okay to "BE YOURSELF." Here's hoping that this
film, like Nick's message on the railroad car, will
finds its way across the miles of America, reminding
us of the freedom we inherently have - without question,
no matter what anyone in this world might try to tell
you - we are absolutely free - to be ourselves, to
be in love, to be alive, to be open and honest - to
be unashamed.
Notes:
The score is by Kid Loco.
The film has screened in several
festival worldwide since debuting in Berlin in February
of this year.
Viewed in September 2004 on a VHS
screener provided by the filmmaker.
