The title indeed reflects my feelings on this film. The theme here is one that has been attempted many times in gay cinema, a young teenage boy having a crush on an older man. But writer/director Amnon Buchbinder and star Daniel MacIvor (who also co-wrote the piece) take this film to glorious new heights and into previously unexamined territory and the result is one of the most compelling, warm and human films in recent memory.

There is not doubt that in addition to the remarkable script, the real reason to see this film is Aaron Webber. At just 16 years old, Webber has both the edginess of youth and the focus of emerging maturity to aid him in playing 13 year old Emerson. Born, it seems, to the last surviving hippy parents in Canada, Emerson has been home-schooled all his life. When the fey yet remarkably intelligent young man goes to a traditional public school, everything changes. Emerson is forced not only to fight his physical battles with his more typical teenage boy peers but also to find his route through his emerging sexuality. Webber takes this character and molds not only a wonderful performance, but the best performance that is imaginable. There is not a single flaw here.

I loved this film and I don't want to spoil it, but I have to expose the last line of the film because it is one of the most touching and beautiful moments I've ever seen in a gay film. As Emerson sleeps and his mother and father look on (they battle their own relationship problem throughout the film as well), the couple look upon their son and the mother wonders aloud what her son is dreaming about. The father quietly replies, "I don't know. Imagine that: My own son and I can't possibly imagine what he is dreaming." This moment stands as a real testament to parents everywhere, but especially to accepting parents of gay children. Parents invest so much in their children and then must accept (if they are wise, as these parents are) the choices that their children make and the situations that their children must go through. Parents have expectations of children while children begin their life exploring their way through having no expectations of their own. For parents to accept and love a gay child is nothing short of a miracle sometimes. For even these parents, who are liberal and open-minded, the situation is no less painful and no less difficult.

"My own son and I can't possibly imagine what he is dreaming." The father almost chokes with emotion as he says it.

And so do we.

Notes:

Filmed in Canada.

MacIvor is also a producer.

Nepotism Factor? Score by David Buchbinder.

Some pop songs by a band called The Hidden Cameras.

The film was written very quickly because there was only a short time that financing was going to be available. It was filmed in about two weeks.

The film has screened at many film festivals and won a few awards at them.

The film was released on DVD in Canada in May of 2006.

Webber plays in a thrash band called Counter Melodies who apparently are working on an album.

Viewed in Austin in October of 2006 at The Dobie Theater in the Egyptian Room as part of the Austin Film Festival with writer/director Amnon Buchbinder in attendance. I didn't stay for the Q&A.

Report Card Script: A+

Acting: A+

Cinematography\Lighting: B-

Special Effects\Make Up: A+

Music: A+

Final Grade: A+