A random pick and a mix movie I had no knowledge of the film going in I happily went in with no expectations and walked away remarkably pleased.
Boys in the Trees is an Australian feature movie that is quite frankly genre breaking. Horror? Drama? Thriller? It's so hard to pin it down to one, though I will say the cover art will have you making incorrect assumptions.
It's a coming of age movie about a young man who is part of the "Cool kids". One day on the skate park he witnesses his best friend bullying another boy not knowing that single event would change everything.
For a fair chunk of the movie I'll be honest I thought I wasn't going to like it. I didn't like many of the characters, I couldn't get behind the protagonist and deemed the plot a bit of a jumbled mess.
Now by the end they'd turned much of that around, though the plot is still very jumbled. Thankfully it does make up for that for the most part and when the credits rolled I was hit with a wave of emotions and very thankful that I had come across this film.
It only ended moments ago but I'm left feeling it's going to stay with me for a while. It's thought provoking, powerful and not even remotely shallow alike most films these days.
With an awesome soundtrack, competent performances and some great writing I can confidently recommend Boys in the Trees to anyone seeking something that little bit different.
The Good:
Awesome soundtrack
Very good visuals
Some great writing
Powerful stuff
The Bad:
Some character flaws
Certainly won't appeal to everyone