SLIFF 2010 Review: HERPES BOY

Reviewed by Dane Marti

Throughout the history of moving images, there have been many films that have dealt with alienated, disaffected youth. Gosh, every decade has a new armada of weird teenagers to complement the incoming freshman of either High School or College: ZITS can be big business, baby. In reality, a person’s early years can be extremely dramatic, filled with hormonal conflict. Besides, filmmakers love to make movies that contain messages that appeal to the massive audiences who pay the large sums to see the latest weekend release. These days, that large crowd is in their teens and twenties. Anyway, I imagine that everyone has at least one horror story from his or her early years. I might have too many.

As far as this film goes, ‘The Graduate’ has nothing to worry about. Neither does good ol’ Holden Caulfield in the groundbreaking novel, A Catcher in the Rye.

HERPES BOY never really gets going past the obligatory vignettes of black humor that are loved by independent filmmakers everywhere. Shoot I love ‘um. There are moments that almost work and I look forward to what these artists do in the future. It’s just that my teenage years were so subjectively twisted that I have my subconscious radar ready to detect anything that appears false.

Whatever the era, there are older movies which transcend  a period in time, including clothing, slang and music: Some of the hippy/biker dialogue might sound silly to modern ears, but EASY RIDER is still a cogent document of its period.SUBURBIA an early- eighties Hardcore punk film, also has some authentic truth at its core that definitely transcends the limitations of that revolutionary, but limited musical era. HERPES BOY might have worked better as a short, quick film.

Another problem has to do with theatricality: some of the acting in Herpes Boy is extremely broad and self-satisfied with itself. Every once in a while, a director can provide the right shading which provides an actor the ammunition to overact: One example is Jack Nicholson in Kubrick’s THE SHINING

Herpes Boy has a few moments that people can relate to, in fact anyone who ever considered himself or she different (or was treated like dirt in high school) will relate to at least a fraction of it.

This is the universal story of a depressed, twisted young man who hates people, but he keeps repeating that statement or something similar.

(As dialogue that communicates a major character quality, the ‘hating people-dialogue’ originally sounded funny, but after repeated scenes containing similar dialogue, I think the statement becomes rather over-stated in a feature film, a film that must rely on conflicting characters, themes and intelligent dialogue.)

It isn’t that I don’t sympathize with the main dude’s plight, but ALL of the characters,not just the main one, are like Big Milk Jugs with primary colored faces glued onto them; basically, they are cartoon caricatures. I’m not talking about Batman here, either.  The classic cult film, HAROLD AND MAUDE directed by the outstanding Hal Ashby, was able to hit on all cylinders and, through its witty dialogue, but especially the droll performance of Bud Cort as odd, Harold. He brings that film’s strange person alive!

Unfortunately, this film never seems to develop, the plot never gains momentum, but…. It tries to be like WELCOME TO THE DOLLHOUSE with a tinge of AMERICAN BEAUTY , FERRIS BUEHLER’S DAY OFF, BREAKING AWAY, and, of course HAROLD AND MAUDE. These are all impressive, famous films. Shoot, even RISKY BUSINESS  had its moments.

The poor young man in this movie spends most of his time making self-consciously cruddy videos for the Internet. At least until his video site is sabotaged by his gorgeous and vapid cousin. Unfortunately, the main character isn’t likable to watch in any way, shape or form. I DID NOT WANT TO DISLIKE HIM OR LAUGH AT HIM. I relate and empathize with people with problems similar to this character and since the film was created with all the subtlety of a dinosaur in a dinky bakery, I don’t think the film worked on this level. I think even unlikeable characters in a book; play, TV or motion picture should have some type of interesting personality traits that makes them “watch- able.”

I’m trying to be charitable here: After all, I was a misfit in school– I even believe that the Creature, that aquatically-zany dude from the Black Lagoon (for instance, his taste in woman), is darn sympathetic, not to mention Frankenstein’s Monster or the hairy, romantic fella, King Kong.

In HERPES BOY the characters are very broad, insanely stuck in cynical, self-centered emotions. I’ve been there, but it needs to be a little more “fleshed-out” and believable, even in a comedy. Again, I think of Benjamin Braddock on THE GRADUATE.”He was a tortured, nervous guy, but Hoffman brought him to life with the right touch of integrity and honesty. The characters in this film just don’t have any redeeming qualities and when they do something charitable, it certainly doesn’t come off as intentionally absurd or surreal as much as jaggedly inappropriate. Strangely, even the main character does not to start to grow” he just repeats to his Internet followers, and his family, how much he hates people; it gets tiresome.

Now, the film is satirical in “cold spots,” the type that ghost chasers find in supposedly haunted houses, but overall the pacing seems to LAG. Judicious editing would help. I relate to the fact that he’s depressed. I relate to the mental pain that a birthmark on the face (resembling a moon landscape or a permanent grape stain!) must be to the person afflicted with it. Some of the comments in the film about being a dork, or the scenes containing America’s obsession with Fame and attractiveness, resonated with me, but not enough to make me completely enjoy the film. I guess if I looked at it as a modern satire, the flick does paint a comic book panel of modern America in decline, but it should be handled with more finesse. There’s a tinge of John Water’s within it, but that director is well- read and thoughtful in his atrocities, using high tech instruments to slice into the depths of degradation, making his film’s concept, themes and visual look all on the same level and painfully honest. He was working within “The Medium is the Message”.

Again, I repeat: there is a certain amount of over-acting in the film that ”to me” brings down the few, good, but halfhearted qualities that the film addresses. Sure, the original, overall concept is groovy, but it needs editing. “I’m sorry if people just like me better than you,” says his cousin, an attractive girl who wants to be a Video Lindsey Lohan.

The battle of the sexes (and the idiotic things that airhead-teenagers say to one another) is displayed in forced, over-the-top comic book terms. The poignant messages in the film seem to get lost, for instance: The message that everyone has faults, everyone had “metaphoric birthmarks” could have been written with more clarity and a lot more style. A viewer doesn’t feel that they really know these people, even within the context of the film. Therefore, when you get to the emotional ending, it doesn’t feel like it DELIVERS: It s a soggy, bland punch! PWWWAAAPF! Perhaps the filmmakers were overly impressed with their subject matter. They’re on the right track. And I imagine that they’ll get better in future work.

The film runs all over the place like an untamed Robert Altman film. The film is not cohesive, even in the much-maligned genre of Satire. I didn’t loathe this low-budget work, but I certainly wasn’t jumping up and down with unabashed excitement either.

HERPES BOY will play during the 19th Annual Stella Artois St. Louis International Film Festival on Friday, November 19th at 9:30 pm at the Hi-Pointe Theatre.