Does 'Honey Boy' finally explain Shia LaBeouf?
No Content for Old Men
with Matt Craig
In this week's newsletter: A review of Honey Boy, a movie from 2019 that I finally caught up to since it's streaming on Amazon Prime. For some unknown reason, I watched the new Taylor Swift documentary. Then a celebration of Parasite by way of a few international classics and streaming gems. Lastly in this week's "Trailer Watch," one of my favorite filmmakers Wes Anderson drops a preview of his new movie.
Word Count: 602 words
Approximate Reading Time: 3 minutes
Honey Boy
tk
If you're in the generation that grew up on "Even Stevens," "Holes," and on into "Transformers," it's really difficult to overstate how central a pop culture figure Shia LaBeouf has been in our lives. At a very young age he showed that once in a generation combination of powerhouse acting chops and superstar charisma, and we fell in love with him the way the generation before us did with a young Leonardo DiCaprio.
His fall from grace was tragic, though not entirely shocking considering the manic intensity he show both in movies and public appearances (unfortunately this is the sort of thing one notices only in hindsight). Arrests, drug rehabs, performance art stunts, and at one point a "retirement" from public life. He was always unstable but never boring, which deepened the public's fascination with his life even further.
LaBeouf wrote Honey Boy to be a peak behind the curtain of his own origin story, promising to produce an unflinching look at his troubled childhood. He began the script, reportedly, as a therapy exercise while in rehab, plumbing the depths of his relationship with his abusive father.
The resulting work is thinly veiled fiction, which serves as a convenient excuse to include or exclude any details at LaBeouf's discretion. The child actor's name is "Otis," not Shia, and the hit TV show he's on resembles "Even Stevens" but is not. LaBeouf plays James, a character who is essentially his own father, though it's impossible to pin down what is fact and what is fiction.
Judged on its own merits, I don't think Honey Boy is very successful. If someone were to turn it on without any prior knowledge of LaBeouf's life, it would feel at best incomplete and at worst incomprehensible. There is very little plot to drive the narrative forward, the two timelines (child Otis and teenage Otis) don't stitch together well, and the movie does little to earn its character study.
Think about it. If this movie had been written by Joe Schmoe about some totally fictional child actor, would we be talking about it right now? Would it have even gotten made? The answer is probably no on both counts. We come to Honey Boy for the Shia LaBeouf story, and though I do think it can be interpreted from the material given, it is not laid bare as promised. (If you're like me, you'll probably watch the movie with IMDB and Wikipedia up on your phone trying to play amateur detective on which elements are real.)
Honestly the movie's protagonist is James, the father. He drives the action and has the full arc. Otis is a human ping pong ball being hit back and forth between good influences and bad. The movie frames Otis, a.k.a. young LaBeouf, as little more than a victim.
Still, LaBeouf deserves all the praise he's received. It's impossible to imagine attempting to embody a father with whom you have such a complicated relationship, both loving and hating, idolizing and demeaning. Since he is one of the greatest actors on the planet, he nails every shade of gray in between.
This is clearly the story he wanted to tell, and though it is disappointing we do not delve deeper into his own psyche, LaBeouf's experiences this year creating Honey Boy and the far superior Peanut Butter Falcon appear to have been hugely cathartic for him.
If this movie walks so that LaBeouf can once again run, it will have been worth it. At just 34 years old, he's got a ton of great roles in better movies yet to be played.
Streaming Suggestions!
Something New
Miss Americana (Netflix): I've never liked Taylor Swift's music, and more than that, I really don't care for her as a celebrity. So why did I spend an hour-plus watching this supposed tell-all documentary about her? Reader, I do not have a good answer for you. It marked a real low point in my personal self care. The wrap on TSwift has always been that everything about her is intricately planned and executed. It's manufactured, artificial. It's not entirely her fault, since she had some aggressive show biz parents and was thrust into the spotlight before she turned 13. But if the premise of this documentary is that NOW she is stripping away the artifice and becoming a genuine adult, why does the whole thing feel so damn phony?
Bojack Horsemen (Netflix): The final episodes dropped this past week. I highly recommend this serial dramedy for really incisive humor about Hollywood culture, and really insightful observations about mental health. If you're looking for a new show to binge!
Something Old
La Dulce Vita (1960): During awards season, Parasite director Bong Joon Ho said that a whole world of incredible movies await as soon as we climb the "one-inch barrier" at the bottom of the screen, subtitles. I took his message to heart, and in accordance with my recent infatuation with Italian culture, jumped headfirst into legendary director Frederico Fellini's masterpiece about a gossip journalist who chases the fanciful yet ultimately hollow nightlife in Rome, always seeking and never finding quite what he's looking for.
Rashomon (1950): Ok this is next up on my list of movies to watch this weekend. Since I had to subscribe to this streaming service "Film Box" for La Dulce Vita, I thought I may as well use it to also watch what is considered the greatest Japanese film of all time by the master Akira Kurosawa. It's one story, told from a bunch of different perspectives. Which to us reading that now, seems like a common trope. But wait, this movie invented that trope. Respect.
Something to Stream
Okja (Netflix): In 2017, I remember loving this very strange movie about an oversized hippo creature. I ranked it very high on my year end list, and everyone thought I was crazy. Then the director of that movie went on to make a little movie called Parasite, and Bong Joon Ho is suddenly recognized as a genius. I can't in good faith tell you this movie is just as good, because it isn't, but if you've come to long Bong then you'll really enjoy this movie. If for no other reason than this one is mostly in English!
Snowpiercer (Netflix): Another entry from Bong Joon Ho. At this point, need I say more? Familiarize yourself with this guy's movies, in the same way you hunt down the Scorcese or Tarantino libraries. Also, if you've never seen Chris Evans play anyone other than Captain America, buckle up for this dystopian thriller.
Trailer Watch: The French Dispatch
There are few directors out there for whom I have lifetime "season tickets." The Coen Brothers, Damien Chazelle and Wes Anderson are at the top of that list. Any time a new trailer drops for one of their movies, it's like Christmas. I've probably watched this preview for Anderson's coming film no less than a dozen times. It's signature Wes Anderson, from the square aspect ratio to the symmetrical production design to the quirky colors and costumes. And, of course, and unbelievable cast. If I could camp out in line for this movie starting tonight I would.