Film Review – Closet Monster

September 22nd, 2016 | POSTED BY Andreas Köhnemann

Is it actually possible to dislike a movie in which the great Isabella Rossellini voices a pet hamster called Buffy? Well, I don’t think so. That’s why Stephen Dunn‘s coming-of-age tale Closet Monster (2015) had me after a few minutes. That, however, doesn’t mean that there aren’t *so* many other reasons to simply love this Canadian feature film debut.

When we first meet the protagonist Oscar Madly (Jack Fulton) as a child, he seems to live a very happy life. He fools around with his father Peter (Aaron Abrams) in the forest of their hometown in Newfoundland; and scary monsters only seem to exist in their games or in Oscar’s dreams at night. But soon this happiness is destroyed. His mother Brin (Joanne Kelly) leaves the house because she cannot stand to live with Peter any longer. Furthermore, Oscar has to witness a horrible crime taking place at a cemetery where a student is attacked and severely injured by his classmates because he is gay. Both incidents traumatize the young boy. To make matters even worse, Peter cannot cope with the separation from Brin and also turns out to be extremely homophobic. As a teenager (now played by Connor Jessup) Oscar still lives with his miserable dad while his mom has started a new life with a new family and home in which he doesn’t quite fit in. With his best friend Gemma (Sofia Banzhaf) he plans to move to New York as soon as high school is over to become a makeup artist specialized in monster makeup. As he falls in love with his new colleague Wilder (Aliocha Schneider) at the DIY market where he works part-time, things become much more complicated.

Oscar’s fascination with the sexually ambiguous Wilder sometimes resembles the way Xavier Dolan presented his actor Niels Schneider as the object of affection in Heartbeats (2010): Wistful fantasy sequences and the use of slow motion express the emotional turmoil that Oscar is going through after Wilder appears in his life. But Closet Monster is certainly darker and goes deeper than Dolan’s dramedy about a love triangle. Writer/director Stephen Dunn uses elements we usually see in David Cronenberg-esque body horror movies to show how Oscar associates his non-heterosexual feelings and desires with hatred and violence because of the harrowing experiences he had to make in the past. Therefore, his fear is always holding him back. The way Dunn tells the conflict between father and son sometimes seems to be a little bit exaggerated – but Closet Monster never hides the fact that everything is seen from Oscar’s subjective point of view.

Dunn’s use of color, light and music throughout the film is tremendously imaginative. Songs like Bitch by Allie X or Hondo by Beta Frontiers help to create a teenage world that looks, sounds and feels real and surreal at the same time. The aforementioned talking hamster that Brin gives to Oscar before she leaves is a good example of Dunn’s ability to integrate fantastic components in a story that is very true-to-life. The entire cast does a terrific job as well. Connor Jessup gives an intense performance and is perfectly supported by his co-stars. Mary Walsh is hilarious and brilliant in a small part as Oscar’s boss who cannot bring herself to fire Oscar even though the dreamy adolescent isn’t exactly her most competent employee. Besides its seriousness, Closet Monster is full of tender humor and funny moments.

Coming-of-age and coming-out stories have been told many, many times before – that’s for sure. Nevertheless, Dunn manages to tell his story in a totally unique, fresh and exciting way. That’s why Closet Monster is a bold contribution to Queer Cinema and a precious piece of cinematic art. When the credits start rolling and one last gorgeous electronic track begins, you just want to say: thank you for this challenging journey!

Aaron Abrams, Closet Monster, David Cronenberg, Heartbeats, Isabella Rossellini, Jack Fulton, Joanne Kelly, Niels Schneider, Stephen Dunn, Strand Releasing, Xavier Dolan