by Hayley Charlesworth
Screening at the East End Film Festival, Soft Lad is the debut feature from writer/director Leon Lopez. A tale of love, betrayal and deception, Soft Lad compensates for a fairly standard story with strong performances and a director who fully understands his genre, even if he is unwilling to take risks.
The Soft Lad of the title is David, a seventeen-year-old dancer in the midst of a torrid affair with his sister Jane’s husband, Jules. When a once-in-a-lifetime dance opportunity and a new boyfriend, Sam, enter his life, David is ready to leave the affair behind, but Jules’ dark secrets look set to leave everybody’s lives in tatters.
Screening at the East End Film Festival, Soft Lad is the debut feature from writer/director Leon Lopez. A tale of love, betrayal and deception, Soft Lad compensates for a fairly standard story with strong performances and a director who fully understands his genre, even if he is unwilling to take risks.
The Soft Lad of the title is David, a seventeen-year-old dancer in the midst of a torrid affair with his sister Jane’s husband, Jules. When a once-in-a-lifetime dance opportunity and a new boyfriend, Sam, enter his life, David is ready to leave the affair behind, but Jules’ dark secrets look set to leave everybody’s lives in tatters.
Director Leon Lopez is perhaps best known for his appearances in UK soap Brookside, and this is reflected in a very soap opera-esque story. The affair, lies, and Jules’ ultimate secret are ripped directly from such serials, and Lopez does little to move his film away from the genre. This does not make Soft Lad a bad film, only one that doesn’t feel particularly original. That said, even though the film does also feature Coronation Street star Daniel Brocklebank as Jules, the majority of performances are much more nuanced. While star Jonny Labey takes a while to feel comfortable and natural on screen, by the end of the film each cast member has left an indelible mark, especially Brocklebank, Suzanne Collins (not the Hunger Games author) as Jane, and Craig Stein’s Sam.
One of the highlights of Soft Lad is the relationship between David and Sam. The chemistry between the two actors is incredibly strong, and their scenes have an easy romantic quality to them. Separate entirely to the seedier aspects of Jules’ story, their relationship develops in a manner reminiscent to Andrew Haigh’s Weekend, and avoids the clichés present elsewhere in the narrative. Ultimately, though the two stories interconnect in a devastating way in the climax, David and Sam’s relationship could have made a beautiful film entirely on its own.
One of the highlights of Soft Lad is the relationship between David and Sam. The chemistry between the two actors is incredibly strong, and their scenes have an easy romantic quality to them. Separate entirely to the seedier aspects of Jules’ story, their relationship develops in a manner reminiscent to Andrew Haigh’s Weekend, and avoids the clichés present elsewhere in the narrative. Ultimately, though the two stories interconnect in a devastating way in the climax, David and Sam’s relationship could have made a beautiful film entirely on its own.
While Lopez takes little risks in his storytelling, his direction is impressive for a debut feature, and it is evident he has learnt how to present a story well from his acting work. One sequence, a montage which shows the development of David and Sam’s relationship, stands out by breaking the realism of the other scenes and having a certain dream-like quality. Likewise, most of Jules’ scenes take place in darkness, and the visuals of these scenes reflect Jules’ character well. Lopez also uses the power of suggestion to good effect. Excepting one scene at the start of the film, David and Jules’ affair is not actually present on screen, only the fall-out from it. This allows the audience to decide for themselves the extent to how mutually destructive the relationship was. The film is more concerned with consequences than with actions, and largely succeeds for it.
One disappointment of Soft Lad is the fact that, although David is a dancer, we only see him dance as the bookends to the film. This denies us the opportunity to see David express his emotions physically through the motions, which could have been a more effective way of showing rather than telling. Ultimately, though, Soft Lad is a promising debut for Lopez, but one that succeeds mostly because of its fine performances.
One disappointment of Soft Lad is the fact that, although David is a dancer, we only see him dance as the bookends to the film. This denies us the opportunity to see David express his emotions physically through the motions, which could have been a more effective way of showing rather than telling. Ultimately, though, Soft Lad is a promising debut for Lopez, but one that succeeds mostly because of its fine performances.
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