Some movies take a thin smear of ideas and bulk them out with ninety minutes of dialog, overemoting, manipulation, and stuff getting shifted about on the screen. But "Old Boys" takes a rich selection (or maybe an over-generous selection) of ideas and throws them all together, in the hope that enough of the bits will stick together long enough to keep a story-line going. And keep the fun going.
A parody of English boarding school stories? Make it an over-the-top parody. Eccentric school customs? Make them bizarre customs. A weird traditional "sport"? Make it a demented sport. French teacher writes second-rate novels? They're third rate, and he hauls around cartons of unsold copies. Role reversal at the end? Make that all go crazy. Happy ending? No, this is adolescence, and it's not meant to be happy. And it's not meant to end! What adolescence does to you is supposed to stay with you for the rest of your life. But it probably won't. When you think about it, getting all grown up and adult is a pretty stupid thing to do. Maybe this adult stuff is something for girls. I hope not.
Yes, "Old Boys" does look like a classroom of kids were invited to throw their best ideas into the middle, and when a movie was made out of this "material", they were all able to point out some bits and say, "I suggested that." There's some very nice cutting, quick flicks between "the nerd I probably look like" and "the hero I would like to be" or "the person I prefer to see myself as, though still of course a nerd." Whatever the story's developments (if that's not too strong a word) everything always remains fresh, like a dewy early morning in a magical English countryside. If you're prepared to cut this movie some slack, and come along for the ride, you might discover that any boring parts are quite hard to find. Scatterbrain energy and unrepressed exuberance, what else is youth for?
It's a film I recommend for the boy in every male. And what about females? Dunno. You can never tell with girls. They're a different species, mysterious, baffling. They're girls.
