HANDSOME DEVIL
(The 43rd Annual Seattle International Film Festival starts May 18 and runs almost a month, all the way until June 11. Stay tuned to Hammer to Nail for reviews throughout the festivals monster run.)
Few things can make you feel more alone in this world than being surrounded by people whose priorities are completely at odds with your own. Ned (Fionn O’Shea) knows this pain all too well. He’s the only artistic fellow in a posh Irish all-boys boarding school where rugby is religion. If you aren’t part of the game, you’d best be cheering from the sidelines. And if you aren’t doing that, you’re in for a rough time. But when Ned gets stuck rooming with the new kid, a fetching rugby prodigy named Conor (Nicholas Galitzine), he finds kinship in an unexpected place.
Writer/director John Butler knows a thing or two about rugby fanatics. While the film isn’t autobiographical, per se, he did base the school in Handsome Devil on his own childhood alma mater. Ned is a suitable “every freak,” with a general interest in the arts, minus the talent to focus on any particular area. He gets good marks for writing, but only because he passes off song lyrics as his own. That all ends when a passionate and hip younger man (Andrew Scott, TV’s Sherlock) replaces the doddering old English teacher, and immediately spots the plagiarism.
Conor is a refreshing depiction of the closeted jock, eschewing the opportunity to join the cool kids in favor of bonding with Ned over a love of music. He was kicked out of his old school for fighting – presumably over his sexual identity – and he seems in no hurry to fall back into old habits. He just wants to keep his head down and play rugby. But because of his exceeding talent, the macho jocks won’t leave well enough alone, continuing to ridicule Ned and attempting to lure Conor over to the dark side.
There are some cliché aspects to the film, including a hard, homophobic rugby coach (Moe Dunford), an inspirational English teacher and an important sports match. But there are also some poignant elements. Ned and Conor are both sorting out their sexual identities, but they don’t complicate their friendship with romance. They simply recognize it as common ground. The gruff headmaster (Michael McElhatton, TV’s Game of Thrones) has respect for tradition, but also exhibits a good sense for morality and propriety. The English teacher rouses the duo with platitudes about finding their true voice, but he’s not an infallible Captain. He doesn’t always follow his own advice, and Conor calls him out on it.
Handsome Devil is an affable picture, but it’s a few nips and tucks away from being great. Ned’s story-framing voiceover is rampant, and often unnecessarily expository. And then disappears for long periods of time, while the narrative follows only Conor. It makes a bit more sense when revealed that the voiceover is an essay that Ned is reading for a national competition. It’s meant to tie into the notion that Ned finally finds his “true voice”. But the story doesn’t need it. The scenes and performances speak for themselves.
– Jessica Baxter (@tehBaxter)
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Sub_marine
You have an excellent overview of the movie, but I’m afraid some of the director’s hints were too subtle for you.
Let’s start with the fact that the scene where the main characters meet is constructed in the best traditions of romantic comedy. Then, after an awkward pause caused by their first meeting, Conor deliberately walks in front of Ned in a tank top with his arms open that same evening and carefully monitors the impression he makes.
Gay men often look for a strong character and a strong masculine presence in their romantic partners. The paradox of the story lies precisely in the fact that the fragile, intellectual Ned shows much more character and consistent rejection of the existing order than Conor. This is the main reason why Conor is so eager to talk to Ned after English class, where Ned’s “plagiarism” of an old song not only wittily highlights his position at school, where he is considered a coward and second-rate for his dislike of rugby. Ned also mocks teacher Sherry for his inability to spark interest in essay writing by giving such a clichéd topic. Remember, we are never told that Conor also loves old alternative rock! What’s more, the music Ned listens to is “old stuff” for Conor. Nevertheless, Conor uses music to get closer to Ned, who deliberately keeps him at a distance because he is too cute and smart for an athlete. And because Ned has been in love with him for a month now and finds it very difficult to control himself in his presence.
So the “inspiring” teacher Sherry, who noticed their mutual interest in each other, only hurts them when she insists that they participate in the talent contest. Of course, Conor enthusiastically uses rehearsals for the competition as an excuse to legally see the school’s main outcast. Moreover, it is very important to Conor that he and Ned sing such a serious song together. In fact, almost all of the songs featured in the film unambiguously point to the mutual romantic interest of the characters, starting with “Thirteen” Big Star, which plays during the beating of Weasel, to Prefab Sprout’s “Desire As” during Ned and Connor’s first real conversation, to Rufus Wainwright’s “Go Or Go Ahead” in the film’s finale.
During their conversation on the boat, Ned meaningfully shows Conor his bag of belongings, hinting that he will return to school with him, but making a demand: to play in an important rugby match for the school. And we see in close-up that Conor is then carrying his bag.
Before that, Ned wakes up in the room and discovers that Conor has already separated himself from him, moves to his “half” of the room and touches the unmade bed. Remember that it took just one glance for the rugby team captain Victor to realize that Conor had not spent the night at school.
And if Conor helped the school win the cup for Ned’s sake, then Ned helped the school get a £5,000 prize for Conor’s sake by writing that essay. In my opinion, you are clearly underestimating the potential of this film, which calls for fighting stereotypes and cruelty in society with intelligent methods and relying on the common sense of young people, rather than on “kind” but actually two-faced teachers.