By Roger Costa
Things are not easy for little Oscar when his parents break up some horrific news- mother is leaving them. Traumatized and lonely, Oscar cultivates a hatred attitude towards them, becoming a self centered teenager, haunted by his constant nightmares and deliriums. He finds a creative form of expressing himself through the make up models he creates, also using them as material for his college applications; his art is a strong alliance for both of his relationships with a girl from school, and a mysterious co-worker boy.
Claustrophobic and vibrant, Stephen Dunn’s first feature length film is a psychological coming of age story that amazingly blends elements of dysfunctional family drama, sexual identity, friendship values and gruesome horror. Structured in a vivid youth nightmarish atmosphere that could easily be identified as “Xavier Dolan-meets-David Lynch”, “Closet Monster” reaches solid results with its depiction of troubles and issues faced by the young protagonist and reveals the talent of a quite visionary filmmaker. Dunn’s infuriating aesthetic of rapid cuts between hallucination and reality, pleasure and pain, tranquility and menace, with the use of extravagant colors and bizarre subtlety, as well as the bold soundtrack, demonstrates his visionary skills as a confident storyteller.
In addition to that, he develops a crescendo natural anxiety in the narrative, as he explores the fragility of the emotional turmoil with promptness: the mysterious flashback of his attempts to avenge some bullies while they engage in bloodshed actions, the unsettled matters of abandon and incomprehension between mother and father, his tender admiration for his schoolmate, the obvious attraction to his co-worker, to name a few of the youth troubled dilemma. Newcomer actor Connor Jessup, who plays Oscar, perfectly embodies the ambiguity of his character with remarkable presence on screen. Besides that, his courageous encounter with another boy at a dance floor, as well as his intimate desires, surfaces an irresistible fresh eroticism.
Provocative and seductively bizarre, director Dunn’s first film will certainly put him on the Hollywood watch list.
CLOSET MONSTER (A Strand Releasing Film. Opens Friday at IFC Center in NYC followed by other cities.)
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