Themes: Mothers and Sons, Down on Their Luck, Dangerous Attraction
Main Cast: Aidan Gillen, Emmanuelle Seigner, Susan Tyrrell, Mark Boone, Jr., Harry Groener
Release Year: 1999
Country: US
Run Time: 107 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
In this bizarre drama that would seem to have "cult item" written all over it, Francis (Aidan Gillen) is a severely introverted young man with a speech impediment who shares a shabby apartment with his bedridden mother, Sal (Susan Tyrrell). Francis has developed certain voyeuristic tendencies which are satisfied through his job in a photo lab, where he helps process other people's snapshots all day. Soon Sal has a new boarder, a massive plumber named Vic (Mark Boone Junior), and Francis notices that a beautiful woman has moved in across the street -- who, to his delight, never draws her curtains. One day, while walking home, Francis sees the woman being attacked by a mugger, and he's able to rescue her. The grateful woman introduces herself as Gloria (Emmanuelle Seigner) and begins flirting with Francis; the evening ends with Francis in Gloria's bed, hardly able to believe his good fortune. However, he can't help watching her from across the street, and when the staunchly vegetarian Gloria is gobbling down some meat, he begins to suspect that not everything is what it seems to be, leading him into a labyrinth of violence and murder. The score was composed by Michael Brook, with contributions from Brian Eno. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Buddy Boy, a psychological thriller written and directed by Mark Hanlon, premiered to a standing ovation at the Venice International Film Festival on September 5, 1999 in the Cinema del Presente section. It subsequently bowed at the Toronto International Film Festival (World Cinema section) and South by Southwest Film Festival before being released theatrically by Fine Line Features in North America on March 24, 2000.[1] Rex Reed of the New York Observer in reviewing the film called it "a curious, unsettling, darkly conceived and absolutely fascinating little film. Not since Roman Polanski at the pinnacle of his European weirdness have I seen a film this strange and riveting."[2] Following its North American premiere, Buddy Boy was released theatrically in a variety of international territories and continues to enjoy extensive airing on the Sundance Channel, IFC, BBC, RTÉ, and many other cable and broadcast outlets. International DVD releases have been made in Japan, Italy, Spain, France and the United Kingdom. The special edition DVD was released in North America by Image Entertainment on September 25, 2005. On September 11, 2007 it was released as part of a three-film DVD triptych along with Antonia Bird's Face and Peter Medak's Let Him Have It.
Plot Synopsis
The story of a pious introvert whose religious conviction begins to crumble under the weight of a cruel and strange existence, Buddy Boy is a stylistically bold study of faith, obsession, alienation and madness. The film's title character, Francis, lives with his invalid, abusive mother in a dingy tenement apartment, and has suffered a life of unrelenting misfortune and brutality. Over time, he has withdrawn from the world and into himself, silently observing others rather than interacting with them. His only solace has been his Catholicism, but he has begun to question his faith in a loving God who could countenance so much evil and pain. When he discovers he can see into the apartment of a beautiful, mysterious woman from his own back stairs, Francis cannot stop watching her, even after he meets her and they become romantically involved. Unable or unwilling to believe that she could actually love him, he becomes ever more obsessive in his voyeurism. And it is what Francis sees – or thinks he sees – that leads ultimately to his undoing.
References
^ "Replusion Meets Rear Window", Preview Magazine, September 1999:16
^ Reed, Rex, "You May Never Take Another Bath," New York Observer 26 March 2000
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