MONSTER PIES

Australia, 2013, 85 minutes, Colour.

Tristan Barr, Lucas Linehan, Rohana Hannah Hayes, Katrina Maree, Nicola Everleigh, Shane MacDonough, Petra Salsjo, James Liotta.

Directed by Lee Galea.

Googling AI indicates that the title "Monster Pies" refers to the scene in the film's opening where two brothers make "monster pies," which was a real-life activity of the director and his twin brother when they were children. The director chose this unique title to avoid a more generic-sounding name and to create a memorable title that was more specific to the film's personal origins.

This is a very sympathetic story of two 17 year olds at high school. It is the story of Mike, Tristan Barr, conscious that he is gay, in fact the recipient of barbs from fellow students, faggott. There is a sadness in his life that his twin brother died in a car accident, fiddling with the car door and falling out. His father, sympathetic and visiting him sometimes, has left home. Mike lives with his working mother.

He is often late for school, his teaching sending him out to get a late pass. And he works in a video store, some comic moments with a customer who comes every week asking for the same film which the store does not have. But, more seriously, a young woman, attracted by Mike, asking for advice, eventually kissing him and then accusing him of kissing her and his losing his job.

The new boy comes to the school, William, Will, a strong and sympathetic performance from Lucas Linehan. He has to sit next to Mike in class, sharing the copy of Romeo and Juliet, then participating in a project for the class for a creative interpretation of Shakespeare’s play. In fact, they begin to bond, Will being a photographer and the making and planning a film where Romeo and Juliet are Frankenstein and Wolfman, Will having a mask, Mike playing Frankenstein. The film shows them planning, filming, the footage – which will play some significance of the end of the film.

Mike relates well to a girl in class, Jenine, but she becomes aloof seeing him relate to Will, issues about who will invite him to the school dance, her reacting to Mike and Will in a huff at the dance – and Will turning up, and the two dancing together behind the curtain after a humorous dance performance by the staff. They are seen by the teacher who is sympathetic.

The complication is that Will’s mother has experienced brain damage and is in institution, his visiting her frequently, his alcoholic father resenting him and the situation, harsh at home, but a friendly Down Syndrome girl at the centre. And Will’s gift of a music box, a ballerina and Lara’s theme from Doctor Zhivago, his mother treasuring it.

The film is very persuasive, the writer-director drawing on his own experience, in the genuineness and authenticity of the love between the two boys, the screenplay and the performances and the direction making it very credible – significant for gay teenagers watching the film, for parents and teachers and understanding.

But, there are tragic implications, Mike’s mother discovering the videos and angrily phoning Will’s father to keep his son away. Which means exposure, hurt, and a tragic decision by Will. And the film ending with the sympathetic teacher showing Mike the video that Will submitted, which includes the discussions about the making of the film, the two monsters kissing, and, at the end, the genuine kiss.

But Mike also visits Will’s mother, encounters the Down Syndrome friend, and plays the music box. He also explains himself to his father who is understanding and sympathetic.

Mike watches the video, brings it back into the classroom after going out to the yard and weeping, putting it in the projector, some static… And the film ends. Will he show it to the class and confidently come out?