Echo B
As a "freak" myself and a queer teen, this film really spoke to me. The entire moral of it, Billy's character, all of it. I had tears in my eyes by the end. Sure, some may call it cliché or cheesy, but in this case that is what gave it life. For any other teen struggling with self-confidence and esteem, I truly believe this film will impact that as it did me.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
11/07/23
Full Review
Ed
I'm not typically a fan of movies set in high school since everyone is completely awful, but it was nice to seeing this one there was the support and resilience to just not care about other people's opinion. Sure, they were some cliche bits, but I feel like that's what gave some of its humor and charm. Also, the public opinion turn-around in the ending seemed unrealistically fast, but this is a movie, not reality, so I'll let it slide. Overall, good message.
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
06/29/23
Full Review
Audience Member
The freak show is a very underrated masterpiece (IMDb 6.6), most of you probably haven't even heard of this movie and it's probably fine. The film was originally aimed at a small audience, unfortunately in our world, only a small number of people will be interested in this film, the problems that it raises, the stereotypes that it shows.
Billie Bloom is my homecoming queen.
The plot of the films at first glance is very simple LGBTQ boy moves to a small town, where he begins to hate almost all the students of the school. But there is no only black or only white, in the crowd of these haters, he finds Flip Kelly, Mark Kelly and a couple of other friends-acquaintances, but honestly this is nothing more than an extra.
I'm not going to tell you the whole story to be honest, it's not really important, so if you're interested in this movie, you can watch it.
This one will be like a mirror for every LGBTQ person, the film shows harassment from a homophobic society, the film shows a friend (girlfriend) - an acquaintance (acquaintance) with whom you want to be together, but he is not an LGBTQ person, although you may sometimes think that this is so. The film shows latent LGBTQ people who show homophobia only as a defense of themselves, but eventually, realize that they live in "someone else's skin" only because someone can condemn them or take the place of Billy Bloom. The film shows how society is not ready to accept LGBTQ people, even if it treats them positively or neutrally. The film shows a friend ( girlfriend) who likes to spend time with you, who considers you his friend, but because of the fear that his (her ) ) they will also consider LGBTQ a person, or they will also start hounding you because of the fact that he ( she ) communicates with you, he (she ) as in the movie, he asks you to hide it or just turns away from you, either because of your refusal or because of other reasons.
Each of us needs a person like Billy Bloom, who can reveal to us our inner freak, who we really are without the mask that we wear when we go out into society. And as the film shows, when we open our inner freak to ourselves and others, many people will turn away from us. But is it better to live under a mask, but in the approval of society, or to be what we are, even without those people who consider us freaks?
Also, the film does not go into some fairy tale, wherein the end everything will be fine and everyone will accept you and everything will be fine, NO. The film shows that even if people understand you, they will not be able to accept you (some of them) and eventually that friend will not take off his mask or just turn out to be an LGBTQ person and you will not live like in a fairy tale, the world will not become a beautiful place, etc.
In summary, I want to say that this film is ideal for those people who doubt who he really is, for already open LGBTQ people, this film will only be such a good look from the outside at themselves, that would understand what we do not owe this society.
I hope that you will want to watch this film and I still repeat once again that the film is most underestimated, I understand that it is not ideal from the point of view of shooting, narration of the plot, but the film is about something else, it is not about some perfectly invented plot that is important to present well, no, this film is a mirror of life.
"Sometimes I dream I can fly, but I'm so tired of flapping my wings.
And the higher I fly, the more it reminds me of how little I fit into them on the ground. So I go up and up and I realize I don't want to fly anymore...
they never knew what they were looking at anyway."
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
02/10/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Not for a minute did I believe the story being told, a critical element to movie making. I also never felt any sympathy or rooting for the main character. The story has potential and I've seen it done well elsewhere but this film is a failure. The motivation of the jock best friend was never clear, the past and present mom and dad were completely incongruent, and Mary Jane was almost dismissed in spite of being such a great friend and supporter. Very poor storytelling.
Rated 0.5/5 Stars •
Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars
02/03/23
Full Review
Audience Member
All the actors are FAR TOO OLD for this movie. There is a tendency for casting directors to chose older actors who they think can better handle the range and intensity of a character, but are 6-10 years older than the High School students they are supposed to play. Why not use actors of the character's age so they might build their skills and filmography? The storyline is another coming-of-age depictions that relates that everyone has their own "flag to fly" because growing into adulthood means deciding who to be - but in 2020 that includes gender and sexual-partner choices just to make life more inclusive, and more complicated.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
02/20/23
Full Review
Audience Member
I enjoyed it. Sure, it might not cover all the nuances of living as a queer teen, but it wasn't meant to. Alex Lawther is great though and I felt good after watching it.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
01/13/23
Full Review
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