Lonesome
Craig Boreham’s second feature follows an Australian ranch hand who moves to Sydney after coming out to his father.
Josh Lavery
Lonesome, the second feature from the Australian writer/director Craig Boreham, could hardly be more different in character from the recently released Argentinian film Sublime. They share gay subject matter and both have Peccadillo Pictures as their British distributor but their aims are totally distinct. Sublime set out to appeal to any audience drawn to films about adolescence and I applauded it for portraying the coming out of a gay youth in a manner likely to engage with viewers irrespective of their sexuality. Its approach was one which led to it avoiding sex scenes and in that context the decision to do so was absolutely right. In some cases, though, taking the opposite route can be entirely apt and Lonesome is a work that puts detailed emphasis on gay sex and full-frontal male nudity throughout. In consequence it will attract gay viewers first and foremost and some of them may be drawn to it for its similarities to a porn movie. But that would be to undervalue its ambition and in some respects its artistry.
Lonesome centres on two young men, both with difficult histories, who meet in Sydney. Casey (Josh Lavery) is a country boy from a cattle farm who arrives in the city sporting a cowboy hat and who, looking for sex, encounters Tib (Daniel Gabriel) who lives there. As it happens, their very first meeting involves a threesome but the two men start to hang out together and, in addition to having further sex, take on gardening work together for a lonely older woman (Anna Finisterer). The rapport between Casey and Tib is significant because we discover early on that Casey’s rather blank manner – he is a man of few words much of the time – is linked to events that have made him feel suicidal. What was involved turns out to be much more than merely his rejection by his father due to his sexuality and further details will emerge in time. Similarly, although Tib is far more at ease, we learn that he has his own problems: not least there’s the fact that his black mother has been deported and he is trying to obtain a visa to get her back to Australia. But while these back stories are relevant – especially in the case of Casey who has reasons to be haunted by a sense of self-guilt – the key concern of Lonesome is whether or not these two who so readily indulge in sex for its own sake can accept the fact that an emotional bond is growing between them. Once upon a time love stories on screen started with a kiss and ended in sex (albeit that sex was not actually shown), but Lonesome starts with the sex which is shown and then goes on to deal with the question of whether or not this tale can end with a kiss.
In seeking to tell a sexual tale in which the growth of feeling is challenged by inner conflicts, traumas and distrust of commitment Lonesome for all its emphasis on explicit sex scenes aims to be a work of some depth. As such it brings to mind another Australian gay drama 2019’s Sequin in a Blue Room. Boreham’s film is, overall, less successful than that one was. As a piece of storytelling it is not always well judged. Early on a scene in which Casey attempts to drown himself is handled rather too abruptly and ahead of any real explanation for it, but the weakest scenes are the concluding ones. Here Casey accepts being a slave for rent in what may well be an act of degradation taken on as an atonement for his own sense of guilt, but again this happens too abruptly for his motivation to be entirely clear. Furthermore, it seems to be a cathartic experience which then allows for a conclusion that I found unconvincing. A key confrontation between the two men is poorly acted too although elsewhere both lead actors, not least Gabriel, do well enough. If a number of sequences are not fully effective, Lonesome can certainly claim one consistent quality: the film is superbly photographed by Dean Francis whose palette and use of light bring real distinction to the look of this provocative and never uninteresting film.
MANSEL STIMPSON
Cast: Josh Lavery, Daniel Gabriel, Anni Finsterer, Ian Roberts, Ally Morgan, Damien Killeen, Vincent Andriano, Mark Paguio, Edward O’Leary, Corey London, Mathew Waters, Hendrix Lee Taylor.
Dir Craig Boreham, Pro Craig Boreham, Ben Ferris, Dean Francis and Ulysses Oliver, Screenplay Craig Boreham, Ph Dean Francis, Pro Des Daniel Lewis, Ed Danielle Boesenberg, Music Tony Buchen, Costumes Kat Katchalova.
Breathless Films/JJ Splice Films-Peccadillo Pictures.
95 mins. Australia. 2022. UK Rel: 6 March 2023. Available on various digital platforms. Cert. 18.
