Wild Tigers I Have Known

No wonder executive producer Gus Van Sant was drawn to the work of writer-director Cam Archer: the young filmmaker puts exactly the same kind of fetishistic sheen on the budding sexuality of teenage boys as does his mentor. A vague, disjointed daydream passing for a film, Wild Tigers I Have Known is a rather disturbing fantasy about a 13-year-old boy named Logan (Malcolm Stumpf), who doesn't quite fit in with the other kids but finds some kind of solace in his crush on high-schooler Rodeo (Patrick White). It's all supposed to be beautiful to look at and wistfully enchanting, but star Stumpf is so languidly passive—even when he's dabbling in private cross-dressing and putting on the voice of “Leah” to make sexy late night phone calls to Rodeo—that he seems more of a victim than a hero of his own story. Of course, Archer refuses to capitulate to such bourgeois notions as “story,” so anyone seeking even a curt nod to the dictates of narrative will be frustrated (Variety's Dennis Harvey rightly quipped that the film “gets a little drunk and disorderly at the trough of High Art”). Not recommended. [Note: DVD extras include Emily Jane White's “Wild Tigers I Have Known” music video. Bottom line: a small extras package for a disappointing film.] (M. Johanson)