Boychoir

This review may contain spoilers!

This film has quite quickly one me over as one of my favourites of the year. I would give Boychoir an 8/10.

This film has a plot that is really grounded in creating and developing a character who you really come to care about and enjoy. But more than that this plot is exceptionally fantastic in both it's pacing and the way it handles success and elitism. The cinematography really captured the performance of these characters and musical numbers in a very careful and grandiose way. The music itself was exceptional, the vocal range that we're presented with as viewers is a real treat to listen to.

Kevin McHale, who played Wooly, was quite convincing as a teacher figure; the amount of immediate chemistry he had with his fellow actors and his very light and happy attitude in his performance was great. Garrett Wareing, who played Stet, was a fantastic leading actor; he developed his performance in a way that showed a lot of talent and he brought the pain and pent up anger of his character to the surface in a very realistic way. Joe West, who played Devon, was a fantastic antagonist; I really enjoyed his smug arrogance and vicious need to succeed over others. Kathy Bates, who played Headmistress, was a very amusing role; the superiority she brought over Hoffman, Izzard and McHale was brilliant. Eddie Izzard, who played Drake, brought the cynical and arrogant egoist that this film needed; his constant battles with Hoffman as well as his collaboration with West really made the film in places.

However the best performance of the film came from Dustin Hoffman, who played Master Carvelle. Hoffman built a closed off, cynical mentor figure that was hard to like at first. But this was very intentional as we see Hoffman transform the role into a caring and motivated tutor that helps Wareing through this fantastic film. Hoffman makes for some comedic moments, for some intensely dramatic moments. But no matter what each scene he's in is always to a high standard.

One thing that this film struggled with was the editing, the cutting was very basic and didn't move the film in exciting or engaging ways.

Josh Lucas, who played Gerard, was a character that was confusing to watch; his pride for Stet seemed to only stem from guilt and as such the ending where Stet goes to live with him seems rather forced. Debra Winger, who played Ms. Steel, had some very ambiguous motivations for wanting to help Stet; she seemed like a character that served the plot rather than herself. River Alexander, who played Raffi, was an awful child actor; his performance felt very forced.