Who's a Good Boy?
By Fred Leland

October 9, 2003

Leonard Farlinger's The Perfect Son is a wonderful work of deception. I say deception because it appears to be such a simple story, and yet manages to make it painfully clear how something as simple as "family" can be complex. Colm Feore (Storm of the Century) plays Ryan: the polished, elegant, refined, and "parental" brother. While David Cubitt (Ali) plays Theo: the wild, drug addicted brother who doesn't live much better than a Grad Student and sees everything with a "golly gee" expression, at the beginning of the film. Through the course of the film they pull the audience through a gambit of topics: the process of learning from each other, addressing fears & long standing competitions, pushing comfort zones & adopting new roles, the future, and most important to the film -reasons to be together.

Unfortunately the film starts in a way that I have grown tired of: because we're shown right off the bat what happens in the final scene. Just tell the story. But the opening credits do roll and we learn that the brothers are back together in the Toronto area because their father has just passed away. Although both brothers have feelings for their father, it becomes apparent why each is there -Theo out of an awkward sense of duty and Ryan because there wasn't anyone else to make the necessary arrangements. The death of a family member is an old way of explaining why estranged characters need to suddenly interact again, but it's always believable. After the encounter at the cemetery, we learn that Theo is not only out of rehab yet again, but also trying to patch things up with his ex-girlfriend Sarah (Chandra West,) and trying to catch a break as a writer.

Theo is a likable guy and we want him to get back with Sarah, but there is a problem with the presence of Sarah in the film. Chandra West has great screen presence, she seems smart, quirky, cool, even a little dangerous (ala Parker Posey,) but she's not vital to the plot. She's wasted here. When Sarah does appear, it's to provide one more pressure for Theo to deal with -does she really hate him, does she really love him, etc. The Perfect Son has you by the emotional guts the most when it is just dealing with Ryan and Theo.

Ready to face dealing with his father's will, Theo pays a surprise visit to Ryan's house and stumbles across Ryan in a sexual situation with another man. In roughly the span of 15 minutes Theo learns that his brother is Gay and HIV+. And from that point on Theo has to come to grips with his brother's less than flattering predatorial nature and learn to be more "parental" towards him.

For a first time director, Leonard Farlinger delivers the work of a veteran film maker. The Perfect Son is well shot, moody, and does a great job of making you feel like you're eavesdropping on perfect strangers. Colm Feore and David Cubitt play off each other's strengths powerfully, which would make The Perfect Son work even as a two person play. It is a film that knows that it is dealing with reality and is confident enough in the audience to not require comic relief. I was really surprised how much I liked this film, because I was not looking forward to yet another "AIDS movie." But it is a film that is quiet and yet delivers a huge reality check.

 

Fred presses on The Perfect Son

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