SFF NOTES: Teenage Kicks (2016, Dir. Craig Boreham)

Guilt is a propelling force in most queer coming of age dramas. It is all tied up in those aberrant sexual practices we're told we have. We get an extra layer to drape atop the standard adolescent self-pity. New Aussie queer drama, Teenage Kicks, doubles down though. On top of the standard guilt, writer director Craig Boreham has his young protagonist, Miklós (Miles Szanto), caught jerking off over his brother jerking off, which sparks a chase that ends in the brother's death and more guilt than you can, well, cry-wank over.

Thankfully, Teenage Kicks recovers reasonably quickly from its dramatic overreach and settles into a more appreciable groove. The fallout is standard stuff for those well-versed in queer coming out tropes: a hot best friend (Daniel Webber) who may or may not wanna go there, a ring-in girlfriend (Charlotte Best) who is resented then befriended, and disapproving parents (Anni Finsterer and Lech Mackeiwicz) who need to come to terms. Boreham also throws in a clumsily handled uncle/father thing (which is said, then unsaid, then provides an unsatisfactory payoff late in the film) and a young widow (Shari Sebbens) to add to the dramatic trauma recovery.

A good deal of this peripheral drama falls flat (as does a tryst with heroin which could easily be excised for pacing) but it does build a dynamic world in which to explore Miklós' sexual awakening. Boreham has an interesting slant on queerness and gives his young protagonist a lot of rope. Sexual attitudes are fluid and, for the most part, ring true. A late confrontation with the best friend perhaps oversteps the mark again, but the film holds it together till then even if it doesn’t do the boys’ attraction complete justice.

Work on the overall production is polished. Bonnie Elliott’s cinematography is clean and Adrian Chiarella’s editing maintains focus. There are still issues with the sound mix, which is uneven to the point of being distractingly overbearing at times. I’d suspect this will be ironed out before the film finds distribution.

While not ground-breaking by any stretch and though its attempts at “edgy” end up working against it, Teenage Kicks has enough to say to warrant a look. I’m sure it’ll press the right buttons for some.

★★★

Trailer:

Teenage Kicks screened as part of the Sydney Film Festival 2016.

You can check out other films from the festival here.