CLOSET MONSTER (Canada 2015) ***
Directed by Stephen Dunn

Review by Gilbert Seah

When the first queer films were made, coming out was a hot topic. Now decades later when LGBTs are accepted and it is considered more incorrect to be prejudiced than to be LGBT, the issue of coming out is no longer than big an issue. CLOSET MONSTER treats the issue as still relevant, made so because the subject coming out is till as stressed as the first gay doing so decades back and that he has a class A asshole father.

So, CLOSET MONSTER is a Newfie movie of an East Coast teenager and aspiring special-effects makeup artist, Oscar (Connor Jessup, BLACKBIRD) struggling with both his sexuality and his fear of his macho asshole father. Oscar has a girlfriend, Gemma (Sofia Banzhaf) but pines for the new cute boy, Wilder (Aliocha Schneider) at his workplace. Schneider is quite the looker. But Wilder is straight but sympathetic. The film teases all the way whether the relationship will happen, but the film takes a few turns. The film uses the boy’s hamster (with a gender twist on it too) to provide insight to the story. The hamster is voiced by Isabella Rossellini.

The film ends up a welcome comedic twist on the coming-of-age genre. The film is not without flaws but given the fact that this is a first-time feature, CLOSET MONSTER is an assured debut.

CLOSET MONSTER has made the rounds already at Toronto’s TIFF and the INSIDE OUT LGBT Film Festival as well as various other festivals around the world. It has won many awards including Best Canadian Feature at both TIFF and Inside Out and awards at other gay festivals around the world as in Melbourne and Miami.

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