Honey Boy (2019)

It feels a bit weird sitting through Shia LaBeouf's therapy but that's pretty much what we're doing watching Honey Boy. After being sentenced to rehab LaBeouf wrote this screenplay, a very thinly veiled autobiography, about his life as a child rising star with his clown dad. His story does a meticulous job of showing us just how much abuse he suffered while also painting a rather sympathetic portrait of his abuser. Probably the thing that works the most in Honey Boy is the way it plays in that space between love and resentment, the way it explores forgiveness and understanding.

Actually the thing that is the strongest about Honey Boy is the performance of Noah Jupe, who plays the young LaBeouf... I mean Otis, the name LaBeouf gives his character. Lucas Hedges plays the elder version and is also strong but it is Jupe who truly stands out. We've seen him shine in a few films now but this one gives him the most to work with and he knocks it out of the park.  He is a young actor to watch.

LaBeouf himself plays the analogue of his father, and he plays him with a sad and raw power. He is wrestling with all the love and anger and sadness he must be feeling and it all comes out on the screen. LaBeouf is a talent no matter what else he might be. His self-portrait and tribute to his father is a tour de force. Perhaps he takes it a bit too far. Perhaps not. He knows what it was like. Is he colouring it in some way? Perhaps. But what he does give us is powerful regardless.

But the film really is just a memoir and in that doesn't always grip our attention. It isn't terribly long but there isn't a lot happening. It does feel like your watching something for someone else. But having said that it isn't a waste of time at all. Some of that personal exploration may be saved a bit by director Alam Har'el's deft hand. She finds lovely ways to capture these personal moments, moments that often feel outrageous, stranger than fictiony, yet are more common than we want to admit. And, as LaBeouf seems to want to find redemption, she finds a way to make us feel for all invovled, even when they are being terrible. She finds the love. And that makes Honey Boy endearing.

Honey Boy
Starring: Lucas Hedges, Shia LaBeouf, Noah Jupe, FKA Twiggs, Natasha Lyonne
Director: Alma Har'el
Writer: Shia LaBeouf