Blue Citrus Hearts (2004)
Forget that this is supposed to
be a "film." Think of it as a video poem. Think of
it as the movie we all would have made if we had a
video camera and the wherewithal to make a movie when
we were 18 years old. "Blue Citrus Hearts" is sophomoric,
maudlin, angst-ridden, silly, and unprofessional.
It's also honest, raw, emotional, devastating and
poetic. For the open-minded viewer, one who can overlook
bad sound, some bad acting, some bad production work,
and some silly improvising by the cast, the film is
a beautiful experience.
This is the story of Sam, a young,
dorky high school student in Memphis who writes his
thoughts in a notebook and finds his homelife and
his relationship with classmate Ariel spiraling out
of control. The one good thing in his life is his
new friends hip with Julian, a long-haired, pimply-faced,
fey classmate who begins to spend a lot of time with
Sam.
We see both boy's homelife and this
juxtaposition is very important. Sam's parents are
assholes. His mother is an unhelpful prick, his father
a macho, beer-drinking loser. Sam barely fits in with
the small-town mentality of his household. He seems
stuck, out of place within this unit. Julian, meanwhile,
lives with his open-minded and loving mother who succeeds
in keeping a cool head when dealing with her son.
This is important because when it is finally clear
to both boys that they are gay and that they are in
love, they both still have trouble dealing with it.
Sam's problem is more obvious, his parents are assholes
who will never accept it. This would be typical and
overly obvious if it weren't for the fact that when
we see Julian's more congenial homelife juxtaposed
against this, he is just as troubled as Sam. Julian
can't tell his mother how he feels even though she
says "there isn't anything you can't tell me" and
we and he can see that it is probably true. The message
here is clear: Coming out is rarely easy even under
the most ideal of circumstances. Accepting yourself
is rarely easy, especially when you're a teenager.
Whether you have the most loving or the least accepting
parents, the process is never simple. This is one
of the first films that reminded me of this in a long
time.
There may be a lot of bad acting
in the film, even from the two leads, Joshua Laurenzi
and Paul Foster, but just as often the film is really
amazing in its seeming documentary approach. The scenes
here set in the high school seem so real that I just
assumed that some high school kid made this film and
took his camera to class with him under the guise
of making some sort of school project. There is a
sense of realism in these scenes. The same can be
said of the boy's homelife. The parents here are so
real that we assume it is just these young men's parents
playing out their daily lives. Of particular notes
is the actress who plays Sam's mom, Lee Ann Roberts.
This woman is so real that I can't believe she simply
isn't being herself. It's an amazing performance.
Filmmaker Morgan Jon Fox may not
know what he is doing half the time; then again, he
may just be a genius. Again, if there were no credits
on this film, I would simply assume a high school
student with no money made it. The film is unprofessionally
lensed from the first scene at Sam's family dinner
table which has horribly low lighting to the final
amazing scene on a rooftop, which has nearly inaudible
sound. But the first scene should be dark. It's a
dark and disturbing scene. And in the last scene,
words don't really matter; by this point the film
is fueled by pure emotion and sound is irrelevant.
All we need is what we see. The image of two boys
kissing. The moment. That's all that matters. That
is the climax we have been waiting for.
But to label Fox an amateur would
be foolish. His film has too many cool moments that
work perfectly for his brilliance here to be an accident.
His talent is obvious from the opening title sequence,
which is simply beautiful and cool.
And his neatest effect is also what
makes the film's most poignant moments work. While
we watch the story unfold, we realize our sad, protagonist
Sam is a poet who is afraid to show anyone his writings,
because they are his heart. And in a moment of pure
genius, Fox lets the viewer in on Sam's mind - on
his writing - by putting the poetry from his secret
book on the screen for us to see. Fox uses a graphic
that looks like handwritten scrawl from a teenage
boy's secret book of poetry up on the screen and the
effect is beautiful. We feel like we are inside Sam's
mind, hearing his thoughts. We see that he is us.
We remember all of our own secret poems, scrawled
in our own teenage hands, and our flashback triggers
emotions long dormant within us. Fox, using this simple
technique, elevates his film to pure artistry. Yes,
the young filmmaker overkills the film with text at
its climactic moment, but by then its too late to
ruin anything, the actors who play Sam and Julian
have won us over within this story. We are they again.
We are young again. We are in love for the first time
again. We are released.
And Fox's choice of music. Wow!
There is song after song here that makes the film
come alive. Post-modern instrumentalists and indie
rockers like Loggia and Godspeed You Black Emperor
help to create what is no doubt the perfect moody
emotional sonic propulsion for this film. While sound
is an issue in the film, with numerous outdoor shots
having the wind play havoc with the microphone, the
music is never part of the problem. This is good stuff.
This is a filmmaker making the right choice.
At times maudlin, at times joyous,
always teenage. At times silly and juvenile, at times
incredibly brutally honest and emotionally riveting.
"Blue Citrus Hearts" is an incredible film experience.
This is the movie that I came to a film festival to
see. This is a movie to champion. This is a movie
to promote and encourage and share.
This is a movie that made my heart
soar.
Notes:
Filmed in Memphis, TN.
Someone named Suzie Cyanide, who
I believe is a transgendered male, helped direct the
film and acts in it as well.
Fox's own end credits say this is
based on a screenplay called "Shades of Blue" he wrote
in 1997, presumably when he was a teenager.
You can see some scenes that didn't
make it into the film in the trailer at www.bluecitrushearts.com
I can't help but give this film
an A+ even though when you break down the individual
components, it doesn't come close to adding up. This
film just got to me. If there was a grade for Film
Experience, it would be an A+. If there was a grade
for Emotional Resonance, it would be an A+.
