Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Dreadfully Boring

The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

This Japanese story of strong bondage between two adolescent males can't be properly considered gay,and more of in the occident the new term is bromance. And that's most of the plot of this long movie, 2h10. Boy enters an orphanage school, is bullied for its stammering, supported by another and conduced to the choir, where situations eventually are transposed. Subplots include an embryonic leftish movement never well explained. Bore, bore, pure boredom. Beautiful landscapes in a meditative film indented for Japanese fanfics, which will give significance to small rocks left in precise points.The beautiful landscapes that changes throughout the seasons are a plus.

Despite it's title, 'Boy's Choir' is not so much about a group of singers as it is about two boys in particular that strike a rather ambiguous relationship. Music is the vehicle through which they grow but it is also mingled with a political awareness. Artistic discipline lends itself very well to spreading a doctrinal message and the boys read about the Russian revolution in between intense rehearsal sessions. As someone who has been in a choir I can only commend the enthusiasm that veers of military training.But it is here that the danger lies: too much devotion for a cause can result in destruction. The nostalgic aura that pervades the movie is already a hint of later developments. Very interesting is the way the main boys relate to each other. It starts as something conventional, the star of the company befriending the clumsy stuttering newcomer and showing him the wonders of singing, to develop into a complicated web of dependence and complicity in which it is the by now well adjusted new comer that supports the off kilter shining star. While I did come across this title in a list of gay themed movies there are only undertones of homo-erotic tension. And these suffice to convey the confusing awkwardness of going through puberty.Ultimately, it is precisely an inability to progress toward adulthood and accepting all that comes with it that leads to the climax. It is always very refreshing to find a movie with teenagers that manages to go beyond clichés and this is such a movie. Choir life is captured perfectly. The combination of political and individual concerns set against a mildly religious background is seamless. Character growth is at the heart of it all.Covering a vast emotional spectrum and relying on wonderful acting 'Boy's Choir' is not an easy watch but a rewarding one.

This is a very interesting and well-made film, well worth watching. It has been carefully constructed and bears repeat viewings. The film is set in the 1970's and revolves around a newly orphaned teenage boy who also happens to stutter. Sent to an orphanage, he is teased and almost runs away, until a beautiful, androgynous boy convinces him to join the choir. The dynamic between these boys forms the overall arc of the rest of the film, with the choir itself serving as the vehicle. There is also a subplot involving the choir-master and a female from his political-activist past (this explains the 70's setting), which is more diversionary than effective. One might expect a lot of homo-erotic subtext in such a setting, but it is almost completely played down. Yet then when there is a sudden intrusion of a female choir -- the movie suddenly is all erotic symbolism for one scene, whose only purpose is to trigger the third act (which is a little uneven).The camera sometimes moves too much for its own good and the hand-held is not really necessary, but overall the movie is nicely filmed in rural Japan. The music score is quite beautiful.

I hope that an expert in Japanese literature can inform us here, but isn't this the classic Yukio Mishima formula? I expected to find that it was based on one of his novels, but it does not say this in the IMDB.(Male) Plodder meets (male) Shining Star. Shining Star is physically beautiful male with Dream. Plodder befriends Shining Star and helps him with his Dream. Shining Star becomes more fanatical with Dream. Shining Star frustrated in Dream but won't compromise. Shining Star self-destructs. Plodder left with painful but inspiring memories of Shining Star. If you like this kind of thing, then do see it. Ultimately not very human, but fanaticism never is.On a musical note: If Japanese choirs really rehearse like this, with such discipline and dediction, then we need to take some lessons from them!