sandover
Listen to the Elizabethan overtones of the title, then watch "As You Like It" appear in the film for a big part. "Whole New Thing" may not be a whole new approach, or cinematic thing, but it surely is a leisurely, thoughtful, and one hopes thought-provoking take on Shakespeare's "As You Like It"."As You Like It" is a pastoral comedy. That genre, rather obsolete now, works more like romance for us. Set in a snow-bleached Nova Scotia, the film seems to say pastoral with winter written allover. But that is not as grim as it sounds, one has just to see the juxtapositions with and the transpositions from the play, and will get what the film gives and is about. For reviewers complain, or note -without actual elaboration- on the touchiness of the subject or praise pointing to things that were weird or off-putting, not quite paying attention to the film's tone. This tone makes the affirmation that the theme is the teacher-pupil sexual relation dubious, if not plainly irrelevant.It begins with 13-year-old Emerson completing his huge manuscript of a novel and as it seems, with drawings all his own. Some seconds before in the sequence, we see a William Blake drawing hanging above. This sets the tone for what will follow. A quite young person with such capacities, this means we are already in the woods of Arden. Rather cunningly, it also suggests, as it gloriously happens with Shakespeare's Rosalind, that young Em, being a writer at that age, must be some kind of master of perspectives.And he is. It is just, and this is where the film's take on "As You Like It" begins to take off, that his parents are so much free-spirited hippies urging him to "talk", "be natural about discovering his burgeoning sexuality" (it seems for them it is little more than a matter of masturbation), that so much solicited liberty becomes problematic. And comical and entertaining for us, as young Em facing them, feels the strain but doesn't lose his wit.The parents are not peripheral to the story. Rog, the father, a self-absorbed scientist played with a hint of caricature by Robert Joy, recalls "the melancholy Jacques" from "As You Like It". Only here, instead of him being introduced to us as someone weeping over a deer, we have an idealist trying to convert human excrement to utilitarian, "fueling" purposes. That is good, but, well, when his wife starts en extramarital affair, he becomes an impotent, raging man, with the face of a religious fanatic. We are far away from the "jerk off" dialogue in the beginning.Kaya, the mother, is a sexy, assertive, and a bit disoriented woman, who, after having sex with Denny for the first time, cannot help herself but be as garrulous as she reports her husband to be. And all that positive stance from both parents, does not amount to much when they embark on the anxiety ride after they think they find out and about their son's sexuality. Well, a parent is just a comic parent, after all.And a teacher is a frustrated teacher. Don Grant, the teacher, never takes advantage of the boy. Actually, he is not at all interested. Emerson is a catalyst for him. What for? Watch the scene that comes after Em's acting out/declaration of love. What triggers Don's unease is not Em being a minor, being a pupil, being mature enough to discard gay and straight labels, but what he says in the end: it is not about having sex, he says, he just wants to feel close. That is what bothers Don. Daniel McIvor plays this finely hinting that where Don failed is exactly this: he was afraid of being close to his ex, Claude, as an earlier meeting between the two shows. And that is what he wants to restore, as it is elliptically conveyed to us. He calls Claude, then sets of to see him, then strangely stops at the public toilets for a quickie, as is his custom. And then we realize that this habit, reported to us before, is not due to protecting oneself from the public eye in a small town, but an obsessive pattern that refuses the reaffirmation of intimate moments.And what is the whole new thing that bothers Emerson? In the spirit of the film, it is as if it is not so much the discovery of sexuality, for we do not know if we can actually term infatuation his feelings towards his teacher. Saying that he wants to feel close, marks more as a feeling of loneliness and seclusion with his parents way too long (watch the first shot in the sauna, with its nonchalant nakedness and hot pressures). What Em discovers is innocence. As in "As You Like It", sex is sewn with innocence. The story of each character, with its shifting accent on sexuality and its roles, gender and its assumptions, is tender-hearted, tenderly and poignantly handled, recalling the shifting perspectives in Shakespeare's play. Rosalind may command perspectives throughout, but young Em at the end is exhausted. The Arcadian forest of Arden cannot be for long an Arcadian family, nor a Utopian relationship between teacher and pupil. The ending is not as abrupt as it seems. All couples are restored: Claude and Don, Rog and Kaya, and seemingly Emerson and his dreamworld. As his father says, we do not know what Em is dreaming of, he would not dare begin to think what he is dreaming of, thus letting it be; as the poet says, "the years shone back on yours/free and immune from mine". In a way love as sexual innocence, and in sexuality, not pre-sexual, is restored. It may not be, as the last phrase lingers after the film ends, a whole new thing, but isn't that something?
Howard Schumann
Canadian director Amnon Buchbinder's coming of age comedy Whole New Thing is an engaging look at an intellectually precocious 13-year old boy who develops a crush on his gay English instructor. Set in rural Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia, newcomer Aaron Webber is outstanding as the quirky Emerson Thorsen whose attraction to his teacher Don Grant (Daniel McIvor) threatens to create serious problems for the teacher, the school, and his clueless parents. While the film delves into unconventional subject matter such as nocturnal emissions and causal sex in washrooms, Buchbinder deals with these topics in a matter of fact way without taking any narrative or stylistic risks.Rather than continue with home schooling where he seems deficient in key subjects, Emerson's free-spirited parents Kaya (Rebecca Jenkins) and Rog (Robert Joy), enroll their gifted son in the local high school. Emerson has written what looks like a 500-page Hobbit novel and has knowledge far beyond the reach of his rural classmates but is lacking in social and emotional maturity. Looking sexually androgynous with hair coming down his face and a touch of lipstick, he is bullied by his classmates and sneered at when he proposes that the teacher throw away the book they are reading (Snowboard Snowjob) in favor of Shakespeare.He naively pursues his teacher Don, a gay man, but seems to have no understanding of how his actions are putting his teacher in jeopardy. Buchbinder throws in some undeveloped subplots about Kaya having an affair with a local worker and Don thinking about reconciling with a former lover but the characters are paper-thin and the stories do not come to life. Though Whole New Thing brings some insight into the confusion of an adolescent waking up to sexual ambiguity, I found the relationships unpersuasive and lacking in reality. Aaron Webber, however, is definitely a talent to watch and the haunting score by David Buchbinder, the director's brother, using Arabic, Celtic, African, and rock melodies, played on a group of exotic instruments, is worth the price of admission.
riddleyw
This is one of those rare, seemingly perfect little movies that takes a specific situation and somehow makes it seem to contain the whole world… a universal story that contains a humor and poignancy we can all relate to. I'm thinking of movies like Harold and Maude, or The Graduate. It has that sheer deliciousness, a meal you find that you want to eat over and over. I saw it at the Toronto International Film Festival sort of by chance, it fit into my schedule and I wasn't expecting much, just another Canadian movie that might be competently made and sincere but somehow would fall short of really being satisfying or engaging or having much to say. Boy was I wrong. In the days that followed, the movie would not leave my head. And then I happened to be in Montreal this week and last night it was the opening night film at the image + nation film festival here so I went to see it again. And it was even better the second time, which is the real test with this kind of movie, by which I mean the kind that has lines of dialog you just want to repeat ("how long does this right of passage thing last?" or dad explaining to his son why masturbation is better than wet dreams, "too much laundry is bad for the environment"), and a cast of characters you wish you knew in real life. They are so complex and real, and the movie sees them with love and acceptance but at the same time humor, in spite of their failings and foolish actions. Its also the nuanced performances; as the teacher Daniel McIvor shows the character's strength and weakness. As the boy Aaron Weber is a revelation, the gutsiness of this kid's performance, from his naked saunas to his simultaneous innocence and calculation, is amazing (and hard to believe its his first film role). The story is consistently surprising, it never sells its characters short, or the audience, respects us enough to not spell everything out. The screenings were filled not only with laughter, but gasps of disbelief at how far the 13 year old main character goes. I still can't figure out how the filmmakers took something that should have been off-putting and weird (13 year old boy putting the moves on his gay 40-something English teacher) and made it something not only consistently surprising but touching and funny and involving. It is not per se a gay coming of age movie, I suppose you could say that it's a bisexual coming of age movie but really it seemed much more than that (as the kid in the movie says, "those are just labels"). Calling it a gay Napoleon Dynamite like one of the other reviews did is kind of silly, because that movie takes so-called *normal* people and makes them seem weird, this movie takes so-called *weird* people and makes us recognize ourselves in them even if we would judge them in real life. And this movie is damn funny but in a way that is at the same time open-hearted and totally unsentimental. After two viewings I feel like there's still so much more there to be revealed in this movie, and I think it's one I will return to again and again. Can't wait until I can purchase it on DVD. If this movie isn't widely distributed it will be a crime.
Spuzzlightyear
Whole New Thing is a delightfully quirky film that is part Gay coming of age story, part love story, and part character study. The film focuses around Emerson, a free-thinking quirky 13 year old kid. Home schooled all his life, his parents decide to put him into public school just so he could get a change in life. Emerson quickly falls into a crush with his English teacher. The teacher, even though he is gay himself, is smart enough to realize that having an affair with an underage student would be a real stupid thing to do. But Emerson doesn't realize this, and lust, turns to heartbreak, to revenge, The kid actor who plays Emerson, Aaron Webber, is astonishing in a gutsy, risk-taking role. He plays this role with gusto and abandon. He reminded me of Napoleon Dynamite (cough, I haven't seen this film) only with a queer bent. The whole cast shines here though,. Dan McIvor, I usually love everything he does, he's one of Canada's most unheralded actors. The others I haven't really heard of, but everyone does a great job here. This film will probably play heavily on the gay and lesbian film festival circuits, so catch it if you can.
