Wild Tigers I Have Known (review)

No wonder executive producer Gus Van Sant was drawn to the work of writer/director Cam Archer: the young filmmaker puts exactly the same kind of fetishistic sheen on the budding sexuality of teenage boys as his mentor does. A vague, disjointed daydream passing for a film, this is a rather disturbing fantasy about 13-year-old Logan, who doesn’t quite fit in with the other kids but finds some kind of solace in his crush on high-schooler Rodeo (Patrick White); it’s all supposed to be beautiful to look at and wistfully enchanting, but star Malcolm Stumpf, as Logan, is so languidly passive that it’s hard to imagine that Archer didn’t want him to seem more victim than “hero.” And anyone seeking even a curt nod to narrative will be frustrated by Archer’s refusal give in to such bourgeois notions as “story.” The only extra material on the disc is Emily Jane White’s “Wild Tigers I Have Known” music video. [buy at Amazon]

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