Honey Boy | Dir: Alma Har’el | ★ ★ ★ ★ ½
Honey Boy is a very personal journey for actor Shia LaBeouf, as he actually wrote the script for this film as part of his therapy in a rehabilitation program after he was arrested for public intoxication in 2017.
Recounting his crazy dysfunctional childhood has helped him confront the side-effects of his early rise to stardom, the difficult relationship with his father and the current chaos of his life. It also makes an excellent basis for a powerfully moving film by Israeli-American music video and film director Alma Har’el.
LaBeouf even becomes his selfish and abusive father James Lort, who is a combat veteran and recovering alcoholic. The ex-rodeo clown still thinks he is funny, but he just tragic. He is a felon with little chance of getting a job and he relies on his son’s wages as a child actor to survive. Otis says “the only thing my father gave me of any value was pain”.
Twelve year old LaBeouf, who goes by the name of Otis Lort (Noah Jupe), struggles to survive with his irresponsible, violent father in the dingy motels they live in. After being in between his parents’ arguments, Otis now lives with a father who finds it difficult to show any kind of affection; has few domestic skills and hardly ever remembers to collect his son after his day working on a film set.
The film cuts back and forth between this young Otis and the 22 year old Otis (Lucas Hedges) who is angry and out-of-control. The twenty-two year old Otis has to go into rehab after crashing a car and getting into a drunken altercation with police. Writing is a way to come to grips with the effect of his turbulent childhood and take responsibility for his future.
It is a cathartic film. Otis (and LaBeouf) also need to forgive the adults who didn’t show enough care in his formative years and thrust him into and adult world, taking on ‘adult responsibilities’. LaBeouf shares his emotional journey with his audience who almost feel as if they have just emerged from therapy.
Lezly Herbert
Honey Boy is showing now at LUNA.
