Tan Lines

With a taste of Larry Clark's teen angst and desperation but without the moral emptiness of Clark's "kids", the teens in this Aussie film do care for each other and for the most part "do the right thing." The surreal scenes: a geriatric drunken game of strip poker, a chorus of Christian wall images occasionally commenting on the action, a Gothic setting where the "hero" Midget "works" (too bizarre to describe and ruin it for you), all these make it interesting. That Midget is struggling (but not too much) with working out his gay desires along with a try for a girl doesn't compete with the dreariness of every day life and the hope to leave this dismal town.

If a modest goal is to make the viewer care about the people and the plot, this movie achieved that goal and more. The photography was effective with snappy cuts from one scene to another.

I saw this last week at a gay and lesbian film festival, and quite liked it. It wasn't what I expected at all. I thought we'd have adorable blonde surfers caressed by the bright Australian sun during carefully timed outdoor shoots. The guys are cute, but mainly because they're young and do something physical -- they're not preposterously cute. They're a bit ... well, not vacuous, but limited in their interests. There's no indication that anybody willingly opens a book. The town they live in may have a beach and waves but it's a dreary little backwater where money is hard to come by and people fall into sex situations for lack of much else to do. The kids may be inexperienced and untutored but they're not particularly innocent, and the adults don't seem to be much different from the kids -- just various degrees of Older.

The director seems unsure how to go about making a conventional film properly, so he gropes, and ends up making the movie very interestingly. There are establishing shots we don't need, of things that aren't important. And somehow the arbitrariness of that echoes the characters' ennui and drift and cluelessness.

The young people are nice enough, and they have real feelings for one another, but their imaginations are so limited that life seems like a choice between (a.) sticking around and doing some kind of poorly paid labor or (b.) going out and seeing the world -- subsisting on various kinds of poorly paid labor. The first place that comes to mind is always Paris, France, and somebody always points out that there are no waves there. Cass, who has traveled the globe, has no stories of doing anything but working in supermarkets. He paints no pictures of his experience. The main advantage the larger world seems to have is that his parents aren't in it, and it's away from this nothing town.

The hero Midget (Jack Baxter) is sweet and pretty born loser who shares (platonically and by necessity) a small bed with his slutty mother (we never see her awake, and we only see the back of her head or an occasional hand). He's illegitimate and doesn't know who his dad is, and his big escape is smoking grass and/or putting on sound-blocking headphones and blissing out on rock music. (There's a great scene of a teen party where everybody is dancing to different music through the earbuds of his individual IPOD.) Back from a lengthy exile comes his best friend's runaway brother Cass -- who has fled the shame of being exposed in a homosexual affair with the 30ish local geometry teacher. Knowing that Cass swings that way, and having apparently been attracted to him for years anyway, Midget initiates a secretive affair.

The movie indulges itself in a few kinds of welcome whimsy -- Midget's secret summer job is pretty kinky, and Catholic Cass's bedroom photo of John Paul II, and his various kitschy holy pictures and statues, carry on an animated conversation in (subtitled) Italian, with some holy figures criticizing the libidinous boys and others defending them. This isn't the ubiquitous gay coming of age picture. It's really quite charmingly different, and even its crudities (like the trouble they have racking shots) seem to add to its charm. The sky always seems to be overcast, even on surfing days, and the whole gray atmosphere is all too real and familiar. It would probably be familiar even to a lot of 17 year olds in Paris.

I'm not sure why people rated this film so poorly. I enjoyed it a great deal. It all depends on the main reason why one watches a film, I guess.

To me, the most important thing is the characters. Are they interesting? Would I like to spend the next 90 minutes to 2 hours with them? Do I care what happens to them? In the case of "Tan Lines" the answer is "yes".

Some reviewers find that there is no plot. Well that's pretty much how real life is. And this is a slice of real life.

The fact that the actors are not professional ones helps the film to be believable. They are all excellent, and I can't imagine why we have not seen them in anything else. Jack Baxter is especially good, depicting the uncertainty of a 16 year-old, which he was at the time. He is also very cute, which doesn't hurt. :-)

Director Ed Aldridge shot a fine film and should be congratulated. I also enjoyed his commentary tremendously. He is informative and funny, which is great considering that many commentaries are neither.

Bottom line: if you need a super plot and huge special effects, other films will suit you better. If you want to relive your teenage years with believable characters played by good actors, you will spend a nice 109 minutes!

"All I want from this life is a little space. That's all I want."

Those who say this film lacks heart clearly have never found themselves aware of the doldrums of everyday life. Or they simply lack a keen eye for subtlety. One of the things I love most about this film is its utter lack of a compositional score. There is no music safe for the songs we hear, quite lifelessly from Midget's headphones. In fact, lifeless is a marvelous word to describe this film because in its lack of heart, lies the terrible melancholy and truth of nothingness. It's about people trying to find something from nothing. It seems like a trite notion, and one which many independent filmmakers have tackled with little success, because of their indulgence and incessant naval-gazing. But here, "Tan Lines" writer and director, Ed Aldrige, has concocted a deliberately (and perfectly) paced art film about a community in a listless Oceanside town in Australia.

At first, the acting seems stiff. But then it becomes clearer that the characters' words are but sounds coming out of their mouths, with little meaning or punch behind them. They talk for the sake of talking. They try to express themselves, but only wind up exchanging banalities without really finding the motivation to say anything that matters to them. The acting is then perfectly synched with the tone of film which is listless. And wonderfully so.

It won't be everybody's cup of tea. People who love sweeping climaxes and funny gags to get them through a film would do well to look elsewhere. But for those who appreciate well made small films with an intention to entice and provoke feeling and thought, may find something to chew on from "Tan Lines". Not to mention, the film is beautifully shot. It's very static and coloured quite dryly, like the sun had made all of the colours fade.

In terms of the plot, it is quite bare, but rich with the nuances in the everyday life of this group of young surfers. Aldrige never spoon feeds you information or character motivations, yet his film never comes off as lazy or un-focused. It is a gift to watch a film wherein a filmmaker trusts his audience enough not to explain every single act that is being committed, but instead finds a way to keep the story moving along while making us believe every single character we see on screen. There is also a nice reference to Ms. Havisham from Dickens' "Great Expectations" in one of the characters, though that is my own interpretation. Again, a wonderful instance where a strange character is never explained, but merely meant to make you ponder after the film has ended. That is what I look for in films. I prefer to be left thinking once the credits roll. I know some moviegoers prefer simply to leave the theater feeling good, but for a more satisfying experience at the cinema, I do recommend well made small films like "Tan Lines" which leave mysteries up for the viewer to decide on. That is the beauty of art.

I'm sorry if I sound pretentious. There have been terribly negative reviews of this film, so take this as my counter argument, instead of a simple review.

A contemporary masterpiece of the Arthouse genre, featuring impressive performances by adolescent lead actors and a more mature supporting one (Christian Willis). Atmosphere and emotion without neglecting the plot. The incorporation of elderly amateur actors and surreal elements doesn't really fit in, but could be explained as an exercise in style, done by the director to make his long-film debut more diverse. - Absolute recommendation for all gay and straight audiences interested in coming-out related stories, and that - in my opinion - from the age of 12, unlike the actual certifications.