Closet Monster

Canadian Writer/director Stephen Dunn's 2015 debut long-form gay drama, "Closet Monster," deals effectively with homophobia - societal, as well as internalized - as it affects a handsome high school student in scenic St. Johns, Newfoundland, and on Fogo Island, in the northeast province.

Ten-year-old Oscar Madly (Jack Fulton) is badly affected by the battles and divorce of his parents, loving Brin (Joanne Kelly) and disturbed Peter (Aaron Abrams in a sterling performance). Oscar turns to his pet hamster (amusingly voiced by Isabella Rossellini) for company, spinning conversations which help him through the tense family times.

But it's when he secretly stumbles on a vicious homophobic bashing in a cemetery next to his Catholic school that Oscar realizes his stirring feelings about the other boys can be a danger to him, especially when his dad reinforces the normalized homophobia of the day.

Cut to 18-year-old Oscar (Conner Jessup in a sensitive performance), now an amateur make-up designer, using his close female friend, Kathryn (Meghan Cullen), both as a model and as a beard to keep his father's suspicions at bay. Clearly Oscar is using his fantasy-world designing skills as a way to alleviate his loneliness and isolation in this small lovely chunk of non-big-city terrain, especially when he meets a potential love interest.

Kept simple, evoking our fears of Oscar's safety and his emotional stability, Dunn's writing, filming (the excellent cinematography is by Bobby Shore) and casting is exemplary, as is Bryan Atkinson's editing, allowing his film to win Best Canadian Feature at the Toronto International Film Festival last year.

It's a sweet film, decidedly non-sexual, but with deep feeling about his characters and their place in the world.

"Closet Monster"
Strand Releasing
$17.99 DVD/$32.99 Blu-ray
Strandreleasing.com