Two popular teen boys, best friends since childhood, discover their lives, families, and girlfriends dramatically upended after an unexpected incident occurs on the night of a 17th birthday party.
The recent multiple-Oscar-winner, Luca Guadagnino’s Call Me By Your Name, along with Greg Berlanti’s teen dramedy Love, Simon, are both coming-of-age/coming out stories about young men discovering their sexuality, and themselves. While Guadagnino was more poetic, painting broad, resonant strokes on a large canvas, Berlanti reigned in his artistic impulses, focusing on telling a succinct story with a specific audience (young adults) in mind. Writer/director Keith Behrman’s new dramedy, Giant Little Ones, leans more towards the latter approach, viewing the stark prejudice that still reigns supreme, despite all the #MeToos and #Time’sUps.
In fact, Behrman examines the very roots of such prejudice, suggesting it’s spawned in high school cesspools of discrimination and exclusion. He touches upon parenting methods, implying that intolerance may be deeply embedded by your folks. Yet the focal – and most touching – point of the film is its lead performance by Josh Wiggins, buoying the proceedings with his warm and realistic portrayal.
“…he and his buddy end up entangled in each other’s arms on the night of Franky’s 17th birthday.”
I feel like the remark about diversity is a little uncalled for. Many movies have many themes, and it can sometimes be a bit much to take in for someone who often watches LGBT/Coming of Age movies such as myself. As a proud gay African American, I have no problem with the way the movie was set up. It was completely different than what I am used to seeing. Especially for something of this calibre coming from North America. Behrman hit the nail on the head spot on because although the media would have you believe otherwise (meaning the real life doesn’t always work in such away), coming out and being discriminated against for things such as sexuality are still very present and very damaging to one’s reputation/emotional psyche. He even painted the concept of internalized homophobia in a perfect light, because Ballas is the epitome of not having the courage or self esteem to own up to who you are. I have been waiting since it’s initial release back in mid to late 2018 to see this movie. And let me tell you, I was not disappointed. Expectations were exceeded, even. And if I could change anything about this film it would be that the antagonist would have learned his lesson. But again, the real life doesn’t always work like that.