Review: THE DRAWER BOY Plows Deep Into The Fields of Truth and Fidelity

From the opening shots of a hippieish troupe of actors cruising along the roads of Huron County (Ontario, Canada) in a roadworn Grand Prix, Arturo Perez Torres's THE DRAWER BOY is not what you expect it to be, but it morphs into everything you want a film to be. Meticulous in its construction, surprising in its development, dramatic in its content, and revelatory in its outcomes, the film evolves into a probing portrait of two aging friends, Angus ( Stuart Hughes) and Morgan ( Richard Clarkin) and the story that binds them.

It's 1975. Thirty years since the Allies declared victory over the Axis, but, as in the case of all wars, not all wounds heal. Angus, gaunt with haunting eyes that search for remembrance of moments past, suffers forgetfulness. Morgan, terse and severe of countenance, is his protector and caretaker, recounting, as often as Angus requires, the story of their friendship, their wartime service, the girls they betrothed, and the designs they had to live as neighbors.

Their private lives are disrupted when Miles ( Jakob Ehman), one of the actors on assignment to research material for a play about farm life, asks for the opportunity to observe the rigors of agriculture. Morgan approves, on condition, however, that Jacob does a reasonable share of work.

At first, the movie is a comic portrayal of Jacob's mishaps as farm helper and overly inquisitive apprentice ("How do you afford living on a farm when you're losing money?" ~ "How does a cow feel when it's milked?").

However, Jacob's instincts as an actor impel him on a course that will ultimately test the boundaries between truth and fiction and the fabric of friendship and fidelity. In his determination to probe the backstory and the motivations of his characters and Morgan's story, he shatters the order of the farm.

Stuart Hughes and Richard Clarkin are riveting in their portrayals of two men trapped in their self-imposed isolation from reality. That their reality should be shaken by an actor, brilliantly performed by Jakob Ehman, is the marvelous essence of irony.

The film is based on Michael Healey's two-act play, THE DRAWER BOY, which itself was inspired by The Farm Show, a co-operative, actor-driven form of playwriting known as "collective creation."

Director Torres has adapted Healey's work into a compelling piece of cinema.

THE DRAWER BOY (98 minutes) is one of the films to be featured at the Sedona International Film Festival during the week of February 25th.

Photo credit to Open City Works