By Peter Maddern
Coming of age flicks where talent triumphs over troubles are a staple of the movie industry and if you are after the briefest of synopsis for Boy Choir think Whiplash meets Pretty Woman mixed with Bob Connolly’s Mrs Carey’s Concert.
Here pre-teen Stet (Garret Wareing) is left angry and bereft after the death of his mother and the rejection of him by his father (Josh Lucas) who dismisses him outright as just the unwanted product of a one night fling. But his father and his school’s headmistress (Debra Winger) get him placed in a singing school on the east coast of the U.S. There it is then up to the very young man to either sink or swim in a hotly competitive environment, not only amongst his peers but also his teachers where rivalries boil to the surface, especially around the prickly doyen but near retirement Anton Carvelle (Dustin Hoffman).
Of course, in a film like this, by hook or by crook, Stet’s unique singing gifts help him keep his head above water and then the fray as inevitable triumph looms provided his own antics and impending maturity give him enough time to prove what he’s got.
Given their chronological proximity, comparisons with Whiplash (where J.K. Simmons won an Oscar for his role as the Hoffman equivalent, Terence Fletcher) are appropriate. The set up in Boy Choir lacks almost the entire credibility of Whiplash’s. The indignities this young lad has to endure at the hands of adults around him beggar belief, but, then I suppose, that only helps makes for the eventual triumph yet more satisfying and heart-warming. Hoffman also proves to be no Simmons but it is accepted the Fletcher role was a bit of a concocted characterisation. And while, Miles Teller, as the young drummer in Whiplash, played all his own notes, it is only in the credits here that one learns that it was another who sung like an angel. Still, full marks for the lip syncing which was, to my eye at least, seamless – we are a long way beyond the mis-timings of Audrey Hepburn’s warbling or Milli Vanilli for that matter.
Still for all this, Boy Choir is a moving, veritable tear jerker as Stet (nicely and convincingly played by Wareing) makes his mark and all the stages of his progression seem quite reasonable (in contrast to the set up.) The film is beautifully shot, Kathy Bates is in good form as the singing school’s head mistress and Kevin McHale does well as the agent within the school who keeps Stet’s case alive.
As the movie industry well knows, we all need to see uplifting triumph flicks like this from time to time and whether or not you saw Whiplash, Boy Choir will delight.
Kryztoff Rating 3.5K
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