Dr Jacques COULARDEAU The gay theme is only secondary in this film. A rather young boy, probably ten or eleven, the son of a drug addicted mother who dies one day on him with an overdose she gets from the heroin he has brought her and he had bought with the money he had made with an older man he had serviced intimately.He escapes social services and manages to find himself in the hands, some sort of two way blackmailing or dependence, of a man he decides is going to be his father. He manages to get in his car and the man starts taking him to Vancouver.On the way to there the man goes back to his hometown where he visits his invalid and unconscious father but that leads him to a girl friend from a long time ago and the boy he is transporting, Nathan, falls for the son of the woman. The man, Boon, falls again or anew for the woman, but he is on a big case, though we do not know exactly what, criminal probably.Nathan comes to a desperate proposal to keep Boon, a desperate intimate proposal that Boon refuses and that refusal sets Nathan on the run again.The action ends up in Vancouver for sure where Nathan is more or less in the room of an older man and needs to be reprieved from perdition while Boon is following and arriving and breaking a door, and at the same time he is getting tailed by an important criminal of some kind he is dealing with.The end is sentimental in a way but everything gets clear though most of the important scenes happen in the night with little light and kind of all blurred up in and by darkness.The question of the film is simple. Does a boy need a father? What kind of substitute activities can a boy without a father do to feel close to an older man? The answer is as simple as the question. Yes a boy needs a father or a father substitute and a boy without such a father model next to him will do all kinds of risky and dumb things to feel older than he is and to fill the emptiness he experiences in his heart somewhere between his brain and his diaphragm.Maybe it could be better not to show that film to children under the tender age of ten or something like that. And be ready to answer a few questions if your son is too young and direct enough to ask embarrassing queries.Dr Jacques COULARDEAU

Greg *** Some BIG spoilers about plot development follow, so be warned *** I caught this movie a few days ago and I've been thinking about it ever since. I almost never write movie reviews here. I'm glad to see a version of this film has made it to DVD. It is hard to explain exactly what makes this such a great film to me, but writing as someone with a few father/son issues of my own this movie has unexpectedly and profoundly affected me.The performances from the leads are great, especially from Branden Nadon and Dylan Walsh, and the story moves along well. Young Branden is just excellent here - he breathes real life into his character - making him both toughened and vulnerable at the same time. Where is he? We need to see more of him as an adult actor. The script may become a little unrealistic at the end to push us towards our happy ending, but I can forgive it that because it's the ending I was hoping for. Some of the other characters are only sketched, but they are all carefully positioned to support the two performances at the heart of this story. I challenge any audience to remain unmoved by the final scenes between Boon and Nathan. How could anyone want anything else for these characters? Love and redemption win for them both, and they find it in each other. I can honestly say that nothing on film has moved me more than this for a long time.If you're used to a diet of slick, multiplex fodder then some of the production values may disappoint you occasionally, but none of that gets in the way of the telling of this neatly crafted little story.Dave Schultz is to be congratulated for creating a very moving independent Canadian film on what I imagine was a limited budget. He successfully navigates a taboo subject to create a little gem of storytelling about fathers and sons.And the track over the closing titles "Whisper in Time" by Bad Religion is killer! Very appropriate.Recommended.Greg

RazielTomorrow -------SPOILERS BEGIN HERE-------A very sad tale about a young boy named Nathan. The movie begins on his birthday. He lives with his mother, and has never met his father. His mother's a heroin addict, and Nathan supports him, his mother, and her habit by prostituting himself. His mother dies very early in the film of a drug overdose, and Nathan proceeds to run away from social services.He soon meets Boon. Boon is an 30-something seemingly dead beat jerk. Nathan convinces Boon to let him tag along for the ride to Vancouver.-------SPOILERS END HERE-------The majority of the movie occurs in Boon's home town. Boon meets his high school sweetheart, Erin, and Nathan befriends her son Lloyd. Things take a turn for the worst when it's revealed to Erin that he is not Nathan's father.I'll save the great ending...go watch the movieThe movie shines light on the problem of child prostitution, but it's also a heartwarming father-son story.A must see for all!

Andreas Niedermayer Jet Boy deals with some very sensitive subjects. It does so with skillful honesty and without falling into stereotypes and melodramatic depictions. It is a real-life drama that convinces with its sincere authenticity and the profound quality of the interaction between the two leading characters.The movie is set in Canada and shot in Vancouver, B.C., Calgary and Linden, Alberta, and the road between. It can be qualified as a road movie and as a drama focusing on characters influenced by their cultural milieu and by each other. The movie has a simple story and is still complex in its plot development as well as in the pace of plot revelations. The audience never stops learning about the two main characters, their individual stories and their background, which provides the movie with tremendous quality and causes curiosity that makes the audience dive into the story and stay alert.The main protagonist is Nathan, played by newcomer Branden Nadon. We are introduced to him as he sells his body on his 14th birthday. These very subtle scenes at the beginning make us aware of how desperate this young boy is. He is a hustler, but still a child. We get a very good impression of his life – a bleak, exploited life without much room for dreams and no way out. Then we are introduced to his family. He has no father and his mother is a drug addict. She dies right at the beginning due to an overdose, which leaves Nathan orphaned and totally isolated.The second main character is a rough and mysterious man named Boon Palmer (played by Dylan Walsh), a man we do not know anything about. Apparently he has a questionable past as some kind of criminal. All we know is that he is up to something and violent if challenged.Nathan is on the road, running away from the social services that would take him in, heading towards Vancouver, when he encounters Boon in a road pub. He associates with him and manages to make the taciturn man give him a ride to the city. On their way they stop in a motel in a small town, where Boon grew up and where he has to settle something. It becomes clear from the very beginning of their traveling companionship that Nathan sees much more than a temporary ride in Boon, but pins all his hopes on him. He does everything to please the man, makes their breakfast and – as some subtle hints reveal – would not mind sleeping in the same bed with him.Once in the small town, we find out some interesting bits and pieces about Boon's past, about his imperious father, about his old flame and his life twenty years ago. We still do not know who Boon is today, but we get a clearer idea of his roots and find out that he is indeed a rather likable person, which we could not expect right from the beginning. The growing relationship between Boon and Nathan is characterized by frictions, but still slowly growing in depth. Boon renews a sexual affair with his old flame while Nathan associates with some local lads.The movie's climax is emotionally stirring and intriguingly played by the two leading characters. Nathan breaks away as Boon neglects his love and his yearning for paternal appreciation. Boon has to finish his job in Vancouver, and there he sees how Nathan offers himself to a client. He follows them and rushes into the hotel room as Nathan is about to be sexually harassed. Boon hugs Nathan, and the emotional turmoil makes the boy break down and cry. As they leave the hotel, we find out that Boon is in fact an undercover cop – something we did not know throughout the entire movie. They drive back to the small town, as it seems happily united.This last aspect is probably slightly, just slightly overdone and a bit corny. The rest of the movie is profoundly authentic and smashing in its sincere character portrayal of a strange man and a young hustler who help each other out of their bleak lives. These two characters carry complex problems and their interaction makes up the emotional thrill of the whole production. The soundtrack is flawless and the camera work lives up to the decisive moments. The other characters are fairly flat, but this is okay here, as the two protagonists carry the burden and define the pace and the quality of the plot development.I give Jet Boy a 9 because it handles a very sensitive issue – child prostitution – frankly and without corny stereotypes. It furthermore delivers a fine character portrayal and focuses on a very strong father-son aspect, set in a cultural stratum in which hope and trust are hard to find and even harder to maintain. The two leading actors are just brilliant, and thus Jet Boy is an authentic Canadian movie, a wonderful portrayal of genuine human struggles