Seventeen year-old Wes (Rusty Kelley) bags groceries during the day and is bored out of his mind the rest of the time. He lives with his dad in an apartment complex where forms of entertainment include eavesdropping on landlady Lorna’s (Viviane Vives) phone conversations. Wes is sexually frustrated, hasn’t any ready-made means of a release, but his luck changes when he comes across some mail addressed to his neighbor Ned/Dusty (Gary Chason). Wes discovers that Ned writes sexual fantasies for a magazine called ‘Dear Pillow’. Bryan Poyser’s film “Dear Pillow” is about the unexpected friendship that develops between these two characters.
What becomes of Wes and Ned’s interactions is portrayed as a master-apprentice relationship. Ned teaches Wes how to write good sexual fantasies and in turn Wes fulfills Ned’s emotional needs. The friendship that forms between Wes and his neighbor Ned ought to make you feel somewhat uncomfortable. In real life, it’d be sick, but presented in a work of fiction and under Poyser’s direction, it’s natural, interesting, and almost endearing. Wes means business when he hangs out at Ned’s apartment. He is not a naïve or impressionable little boy nor is Ned a perverted old man. Wes is at that age where teenaged guys are generally preoccupied with sex and are convinced that if they don’t get laid now, it’ll never happen. Ned assures Wes that it will happen…even if it means starring in a homemade porn video.
Other than whether or not Wes will agree and go through with the film role, there is no conventional conflict in Poyser’s film. “Dear Pillow” does not depend upon plot hooks to amuse and entertain the viewer. The film is about human relationships and Poyser depicts them honestly. “Dear Pillow” leaves you believing that the teen years won’t get the best of Wes and he’ll find a fitting outlet to ease his anxiety.
