Jet Boy (2001)

Despite some weakness to the credibility of the plot development, I enjoyed this film from start to finish. The ending, although perhaps a little soppy, was what I was hoping for although pushed a little far by Boon returning, almost instantly, to his former teen lover of twenty years past and her boy.The part of Nathan was beautifully and convincingly portrayed by Branden Nadon who, I felt, gave a stunning performance as the hardened streetwise prostitute who has just the same needs and desires as everyone else. The most poignant lines for me were where he said he just wanted to be a good kid and to have a father to help with his homework and go fishing and camping.Boon and Nathan become slowly attracted despite Boon's reluctance to get into any relationship. Boon's dying father did not provide him with the paternal love and guidance he would have wished for. This reluctance also shows through when he tells his former teen lover that he is not the same man that she knew - he perhaps fears their relationship might be rekindled and him having to take responsibility. Boon strikes me as a character who wishes to avoid responsibility for himself or others. He doesn't wish to collect Nathan from the police station whilst trying as hard as he can to build barriers between them for fear of them becoming closer.Nathan's craving for a paternal figure and someone to take responsibility for and care for him are consistent with my own real-life experiences. Sadly there are too many neglected and damaged youngsters in need of love and affection. The desperation to find someone to fill that void can sometimes lead to undesirable situations.This is definitely a feel-good movie which I would happily recommend.

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

About once or twice a year I find a film that has been seen by almost no one, and yet turns out to be outstanding and should have reached a much larger audience. Jet Boy is in this category. Branden Nadon gives such a superb performance as a boy "Nathan" turning 14 and living in conditions no child should have to endure, that it stirs the "rescue" urge in anyone with a conscience that something like this can happen in Canada or America. The story was written by the director David Schultz, and it is a terrific story. I don't agree that it is a bad movie that nevertheless moves the viewer. I admit it has a few flaws, but most movies do, and they are relatively minor here. Like how Dylan Walsh's "Boon" can so easily reject Nathan after being protective a minute earlier, or how they re-connect in Vancouver when neither knew where the other was in such a large city. Their extended hug near the end is very affecting, and did not hurt the movie in my opinion, as others have suggested. It reflected Boon's realization that he truly cared for Nathan, for he was influenced by his rekindled love interest telling him he is not (and does not have to be like) his own cold, dying, father. Still to see a movie with a raw ugly streetwise theme manage to be uplifting and presented in a way that even young teenagers can watch is quite an accomplishment. It was also great to see a boy who looked to be the age he was playing, rather than an adult playing a much younger person. The scenes where Boon reunites with his high school love and her 13 year old son are beautifully done, and the two boys are so real together, it's hard to believe they are acting. And when the two slightly older boys go out with them and they all get into minor trouble, it seems perfectly believable. Especially when Lloyd, the 13 year old, breaks down and cries at the police station. Each time after I have watched this film, it takes me 30 minutes to stop dwelling on it. I'm so glad I purchased this film sight unseen based on an Amazon recommendation. It is one of my all-time favorites already. I hope some of you reading this will do the same. You won't be sorry.

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