In a movie that is about so little, attention to detail is important and in this one the director completely missed the boat. It opens quite nicely and even though it begins as a typical coming of age/coming out story, the cinematography promises something bigger. However the film never delivers. For starters the central character, Pim, has no personality. He is a complete dud. The director tries to show him interested in drawing, but Pim only does it occasionally and seems to have no passion in it whatsoever. The film also opens with Pim as a much younger kid who is somehow fascinated by his mother's beauty queen crown & sash, both of which he puts in a shoebox (the mother doesn't notice? doesn't care?). It is clear that the director is just accumulating things for Pim to put in his collection box, but with little reason to do so except fulfill a director's plot device at the end of a movie.
Although the actors do an admirable job, the film is just not very well conceived. The beginning has lots of quick cuts, that end abruptly & leave things unexplained, then the film ends with longer shots in which very little happens. Pim's love interest runs off with a girl, and then all of sudden he comes back....no explanation, no development of the characters means the viewer has no explanation for why things happen except that it's just a series of random events a director tried to string together. Beautiful Thing, Ma Vie En Rose, My Beautiful Laundrette....the list of films that explore the themes that this film only touches on is quite long & they do a much better job, so I don't really see any point to this one.
Although the actors do an admirable job, the film is just not very well conceived. The beginning has lots of quick cuts, that end abruptly & leave things unexplained, then the film ends with longer shots in which very little happens. Pim's love interest runs off with a girl, and then all of sudden he comes back....no explanation, no development of the characters means the viewer has no explanation for why things happen except that it's just a series of random events a director tried to string together. Beautiful Thing, Ma Vie En Rose, My Beautiful Laundrette....the list of films that explore the themes that this film only touches on is quite long & they do a much better job, so I don't really see any point to this one.