Movie Breakdown: Honey Boy

Pre-Screening Ramble:

Shia LaBeouf has been on the comeback trail for a while now, so I think it’s nice that things have really come together for him here in 2019.  The Peanut Butter Falcon, which hit theaters earlier this year, was very well received, and now there’s the much buzzed-about Honey Boy, a semi-autobiographical film that he wrote.  Go Shia go.

Post-Screening Ramble:

Honey Boy feels like a fever dream.  It’s Shia LaBeouf burning out the remaining mess leftover from his personal issues and fully opening himself up to the world.  I don’t know if you’re going to be into it, as it’s a film that is very manic in its layout and message, but if you can take a step back and accept that this is Shia’s story the exact way it’s been violently bouncing around inside of him for who knows how long, what you’ll find is that Honey Boy is a strangely cathartic film.  On the performance side of things, it is – unsurprisingly – Shia that shines the brightest amongst a slew of strong performances.  He plays James Lort, a wildfire of a man who’s modeled after his actual father, and even though this guy is not an overall likeable character, Shia plays him with such a furious swirl of emotions that it’s hard to not feel bad him.  And, of course, once you’re clued into the pain and distress that the real life Shia has endured, it’s in turn hard to not feel bad for him.

This is not a film that’s for everyone, but if you’re generally into arthouse-fare that operates outside of the box, I think it’s worth seeking out (at least on VOD).

One Last Thought:

FKA Twigs doesn’t have a lot of verbal action in Honey Boy, but she does a great job of using her body to say quite a lot.  It’s kind of hard to believe that it’s taken this long for her to appear in a film.  Here’s hoping she keeps at it.