Outfest Review: "Dream Boy" beautifully acted and directed...

This is such an impressive movie. I'm so glad I got myself over to the DGA Theatre this morning to see "Dream Boy" despite a very strong desire to sleep in. I got there when the movie was just starting and just settled in.

The movie - based on the novel by James Grimsley - is set in the 70s and tells the story of painfully shy Nathan (Stephan Bender) who has moved to rural Louisiana with his religious parents - moved in right next door to Roy (Maximillian Roeg) and his family. The bookish Nathan is immediately smitten with the outgoing and confident Roy. Homework sessions blossom into more - far more. However, Nathan's dark secrets threaten to tear them apart.

Cool side note: Nathan's mom is played by Diana Scarwid who played Christina Crawford opposite Faye Dunaway in "Mommie Dearest" and Roy's mom is played by singer Rickie Lee Jones!

I have to say right here, the sex scenes in this film between the two leads are among the most sensual and tender that you will see. Add the stolen moments element and it is just perfect. Bender and Roeg are absolutely superb in their roles - not a false note anywhere.

For a good 20 minutes there is very little dialogue and you just can't stop watching. Director and co-writer James Bolton just does such an amazing job with the cast he assembled.
While Bender and Roag are both very attractive, the hunk of the film is Randy Wayne who plays Burke. You will not want to miss the swimming scenes foir one thing, but Wayne does a fine job of showing up the characters dark side - at first in subtle ways with the darting of the eyes - then in truly awful ways.)

I don't want to give away the ending but I was surprised at how upset I felt at the way things turned out. I had gotten so absorbed in the characters and cared about them.

After the screening, Bolton told us the movie took 21 days to shoot and "cost far less than it may look." International distribution is already set but a deal with a domestic distributor has not yet been closed.

This is one of the better films of the entire festival. I've seen more than two-dozen and this ranks in my top five.