From a screenplay by Shia LaBeouf, based on his own experiences, award-winning filmmaker Alma Har’el brings to life a young actor’s stormy childhood and early adult years as he struggles to reconcile with his father through cinema and dreams. Fictionalising his childhood’s ascent to stardom, and subsequent adult crash-landing into rehab and recovery, Har’el casts Noah Jupe and Lucas Hedges as Otis Lort, navigating different stages in a frenetic career. LaBeouf takes on the daring and therapeutic challenge of playing a version of his own father, an ex-rodeo clown and a felon. Artist and musician FKA twigs makes her feature-film debut, playing neighbour and kindred spirit to the younger Otis in their garden-court motel home. Har’el’s feature narrative debut is a one-of-a-kind collaboration between filmmaker and subject, exploring art as therapy and imagination as hope.
Critic reviews of Honey Boy
“The movie feels very raw. LaBeouf's voice is very unfiltered through
this movie… You can tell that he's working through things as he writes the
movie.”
Chris Stuckmann – ChrisStuckmann.com
“Is quite remarkable in its softness, in its emotion, and in [Shia
LaBeouf's] heartfelt manner in showing his dad the type of love he deserved when
he needed it the most.”
Peter Gray – This is Film
“Honey Boy is an equally unsettling and dreamlike portrait of an artist
and their journey throughout life.”
Amanda Mazzillo – Film Inquiry
