Tale of the Lost Boys (2017)

This is a very touching and well made movie… with none of the nonsense and frivolities often associated with movies of this genre. This is not a Mary Poppins, feel-good movie but a real drama that happenes to bring two guys together of different sexual inclinations but with equally traumatic family backgrounds. A movie of growth, development, and the deepest empathy - one which gives the main characters the strength necessary to confront their ghosts.

The acting is good, with performances by the main characters that are inspiring - although at times they seem a little awkward... especially towards the beginning of the movie. But the performances soon take off. Their best scenes are the more intimate ones towards the end of the movie when they share thoughts, advice, and a few heart-wrenching confessions. Their acting, in fact, gets progressively better to the point where towards the end of the movie they can make you cry.

The story is the movie’s strongest seller. It is well developed, down to earth, touching and moving from beginning to end. The editing moves the viewer seamlessly from one scene to the next; the flow is natural... it almost feels like real life. Perhaps because the movie is life itself: full of things that apply to real people... the stress of family conditioning, the expectation of parents, the stress of young people who have endured some kind of abuse... who hasn’t suffered one or more of these vicisitudes? It is a movie from which we can all learn something in our own particular way.

The rewatch value is among the highest I have seen. It is a comforting movie showing two men of different backgrounds and inclinations coming together to be a comfort to each other and in that sense it is the kind of movie I would want to see over, and over and over again.

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