Bobbycrush (2003) User Reviews

An all too frequent tale...

[Havan_IronOak · 7/10 · 9 May 2004]

Dylan and Bobby are boyhood friends and they are in love the way that young boys sometimes are. But Dylan has met a girl and is starting to put those boyhood things aside. Bobby knows that he's not interested in girls and misses what he had with Dylan.

Told as part cheesy 80's pop video, part home movie, part video recollection this film tells a confusing and sad, but all too often true, story that will hit home with many that see it.

This film brings back a lot of memories and struck a very true chord with me but I wish the film maker had gone a bit further and left it on a happier note. Yes, we all love and lose, even when we are young, but there's always tomorrow, especially when we are young.

absolutely beautiful

[WoodyRockhardo · 10/10 · 15 January 2005]

Beautiful....that one word pretty much sums up this whole film. Everything from the cinematography, the directing, the acting.....brilliant. At any point of the film, you can pause it, and you will no doubt be looking at something mosaic or "artsy fartsy" as some people would say. I assure you, that after one viewing, "Bobbycrush" will be stuck in your head. I know this from first hand experience. Even the soundtrack is great. It goes together very well with the tone and pace of the film. Be thankful that Cam Archer exists in this world. We need more people like him to make films that show love and shame in totally real (and surreal) imagery.

Haunting, evocative, tender and deeply-felt mini-masterpiece.

[darren-103 · 16 December 2003]

Bobbycrush heralds the arrival of a remarkable new talent in Cam Archer. Atmospheric, playful and blissfully erotic, Cam captures the brutal, aching all-encompassing emotion of teenage desire. When you love what you can't have -- When you want to crawl out of your own skin and be anyone else. When you want to disappear. The cinematography is blown out, grainy and hyper colorful, as if out of a dream. The sound design is wholly original -- a soundscape of the mind, fragments of spoken song lyrics, symphonies of 60s girl pop, the gust of blowing wind. The film is perfection -- like a dream or a memory yet all too real. Multiple viewings are required to gage the full power and beauty of this haunting, evocative, tender and deeply-felt mini-masterpiece.

Great ambitions not met

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 16 September 2013]

The short film genre is a huge pool for gay-related short-films. While it's more often than it used to be, but still not too frequent that you find a feature film on the issue, there's a whole bunch of films in the under 30-minute range coming out every year (no pun intended!) telling the very personal story of a closet case or homosexual male.

This one really came short though, unfortunately. It's about the unrequited love of a gay teenager to his straight childhood friend. It tries to be quite artistic from start to finish, including dream sequences, costumes and a somewhat strange voice-over. All attempts fail, however, because of shoddy execution and the very low quality with which this was filmed surely doesn't help the matter. I personally thought that the telephone sequences including the masks worn by the protagonists were really the worst thing about it. I had to cringe. It's hard to not be hard on this short film, but I'll stop now as it was Cam Archer's very first film 10 years ago. I just don't think the outcome has really any redeeming features at all and you can't have to rely on only your gay audience to like the film as they can certainly better identify with the character than myself. Not recommended. There's many better films on the matter.

Confident, uncompromising short

[charlesspano · 10/10 · 12 December 2003]

Cam Archer's lyrical Bobbycrush boldly captures the disorienting kaleidoscope that is adolescent desire with a lush rendering (beautifully photographed by Aaron Platt) that is more vibe than narrative. Caught somewhere between documentary and dream, Bobbycrush recalls the inventiveness of early Todd Haynes and the vivid hyperrealism of Gus van Sant. With grit, glamour and heartbreak, it's kinda like the movie equivalent of Sonic Youth playing bubblegum pop.

Pretentious Drivel

[strussjd · 2/10 · 25 June 2005]

I caught this on IFC last week and I thought it was typical of the indie short subject film: heavy on style, little on substance and originality. Does it comes as any surprise that a coming out film stars an unusually attractive (and blond to boot) boy with 70s shag hair and too-cool-for-school clothes? Plus, this film wallows in late 1970s chic, which works for some (Sofia Coppola's "The Virgin Suicides" comes to mind) but not for this director.

Another reviewer compared this to Harmony Korine's work and I agree. Yet I don't view this as a positive thing (what has HE done lately, anyway?). "Bobbycrush" is really just a waste of time and energy for all involved. If you happen to see it late night on cable, turn the channel and watch something else instead.

Verging on the exploitative?

[ehrhorn · 15 December 2003]

Saw this short at a local festival and was blown away!! Beautiful colors, beautiful actors, and beautiful costuming. While its focus on young love and broken hearts was fresh and lively, it left me wondering: just how far was this director willing to go to tell an apparently personal tale? Pin up girls, transvestites, pubescent boys, the list goes on. Trashy and classy at the same time...