THE MUDGE BOY
by Kevin Koehler
A number of years ago, I had the pleasure of seeing a short film
by the name of Fishbelly White where a young boy works out
issues regarding the death of his mother, his growing awareness of
his own (homo)sexuality, and a fetishistic attachment to a pet
chicken. A tour de force of powerfully naturalistic, economical storytelling,
this short would serve as the basis for writer-director Michael Burke's
first feature, The Mudge Boy. You can imagine my high hopes.
Sigh.
A haiku is a haiku. Fishbelly White is a haiku. It is not Paradise
Lost. And neither is The Mudge Boy. To accommodate
the inflated running time (94 minutes), Burke has added such superfluous
narrative elements as the protagonist's father (a farmer played
by Richard Jenkins, not stretching), some "let me just stick
it in a little" anal rape (unnecessarily literalizing what
was poetically subtle in its former form), dialogue from the closeted
bully like "we can't do this no more, it's queer and I ain't
no queer," and a bonfire party out in the fields that is always
had by people in (a) these kinds of movies and (b) American Eagle
Outfitter in-store promotional videos.
Why make this movie? What was improved upon? What needed to be explored
that wasn't in Fishbelly White? I have to believe that the
reasons for making The Mudge Boy were not entirely artistic
ones - someone (from the Showtime network, who produced it) with
money liked Fishbelly White and gave Mr. Burke the opportunity
to make his first feature by expanding the short rather than finance
something else better suited for 90+ minutes. Unfortunate.
Interesting footnote: Showtime is developing quite a track record
of messing up things I like by people named "Burke." During
my days in film development, a favorite script of mine was for a
comedic character study called Oooph! by David Burke. Admittedly,
this a terrible title, but the writing was wonderful. Showtime ended
up producing it as Women vs. Men, a disappointing exercise
in mediocrity by actor-turned-director Chazz Palminteri.
© Pretentious Musings. This review may not be reprinted, in
whole or in part, without the express consent of its author.
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