Our Hero, Balthazar review

This film has had quite a strong online promotional presence and like many when I first saw one of the Bboy Malone videos pop up on YouTube I thought it was real; some kid literally crying about the state of the world and its not as unlikely a sight as you’d think. It was only when they kept appearing and its subject seemed equally distressed about all kinds of things that I twigged it was for the film. These videos and clips have got crazier – Balthazar is the first ethical feminist to become pregnant! – yet in terms of the film they may be giving a slightly misleading impression. As a campaign it worked though as it led me to the film itself yet while Our Hero, Balthazar has some dark humour it’s an intriguing look at characters that society- whether at the top or near the bottom- overlooks.

Balthazar Malone is a pampered teenager living with his mother in a spacious Midtown penthouse overlooking New York City. Though surrounded by people- he even has a life coach- he is essentially lonely and somewhat childish.  Left largely to his own devices while his mother hosts parties, he tries to impress a female classmate who has expressed strong views on the state of the world by posting videos in which he deplores events like school shootings. He even uses her phrase “we’re fighting for our lives, here” while sobbing throughout. Yet we see once he’s finished that the tears and sentiments are fake. Far from sincere, these are performative videos shot professionally. Essentially he is acting which he will do for the entire movie. I’m not sure if we ever see the real Balthazar; his insincerity abounds whenever he tries to impress or please people.

While this attempt at a relationship soon burns out when he comes over as too creepy an online contact he makes who has the user name deathdealer_16 seems more promising in his search to find someone to befriend him. Catfishing this person using his mother’s recorded voice to pose as a women, Balthazar flies to Texas ostensibly to stop him carrying out a planned shooting his messages have alluded to. The viewer though has already met Solomon Jackson, who lives at the opposite end of the social scale in a trailer park looking after his ailing grandmother and trying to impress his father who sells testosterone supplements in what is basically a pyramid scheme. While he may seem to fit the typical profile of a shooter, he is barely capable of organising much at all.

Given these character’s backgrounds there are certain expectations. When we first see Solomon he is in the audience at one of his father’s promotional rallies which uses the language and tenor of extreme right wing rabble rousing; this is Texas after all. When we discover what Jackson senior is selling it’s a funny turning over of our assumptions. Indeed, while Solomon might appear to be the less pleasant side of American life, he is really a victim here trying to impress his father while neglecting his job at a gas station from which he is fired which means he can’t pay the rent on his home. If his online persona suggests he is capable and willing to carry out a school shooting, in fact he has tried to sell the guns he owns. Remarkably, because they are not properly registered, the shop won’t accept them so he can take them away! In itself this is an indictment of American gun law. 

That this mismatched duo connect in some way is surprising especially as while Solomon lacks the subtly to be anything other than who he is, Balthazar is seen as manipulative in large and small ways, egging the former on to demonstrate the guns and show him fantasy plans to carry out an atrocity. You wonder where this is going but the messy (in a good way) ending is still a shock and doesn’t offer the redemption that either character might have in a more mainstream movie. I don’t often say this about modern films but I think this one would benefit from being longer, simply to allow the characters to interact more. The scenes were they hang out or get stoned could have been longer.

Both actors tackle these awkward roles so well, underscoring the narrative’s refusal to simply paint them as good or bad but rather a mess of emotions.  Jaeden Martell accentuates Balthazar’s youthful petulance with glances and subtlety. His ability to seem vulnerable yet always with some sly get out is a hard act to pull off but he does so.  Asa Butterfield is fearsomely convincing complete with a Texan accent when we first meet him, a typical redneck kid you’d say. Yet as the story progresses the actor unpeels this façade to exposé vulnerability and caring that in the situation he lives is never really allowed space. Together, they contrast so well, two performances that really deserve recognition when it comes to awards season. There’s also very strong support from Chris Bauer as Solomon’s verbally abusive business obsessed father Beaver, Avan Jogia as the latter's right hand man Supes (essentially the sort of person Beaver wants Solomon to be) and though she’s only in a few scenes Pippa Knowles as Eleanor, the feisty girl who first sparks Balthazar's online crusade. 

In what is – impressively- his debut feature, Oscar Boysen directs and co-writes with Ricky Camilleri covering several topics. These include loneliness leading to bad choices, the persuasiveness of online interaction, absentee parenting as well as the unexpected holes in gun legislation. Billed as a black comedy, it is less outright funny than such a culture clash could be yet also avoids cliché and judgemental narrative. Its humour is low key but effectively deployed. Also the film never swings the way you think it might while your own allegiances will shift several times from Balthazar to Solomon; for all their flaws, we do come to feel something for these two oddballs. Another type of film might have them become great friends but this is not that, neither is it what I expected which was that Balthazar would get dragged into some attack; though he clearly does become fascinated with guns. 

 Despite similarities in their outlook – and the fact they both have Biblical sounding names- it feels as if Balthazar’s upbringing has better enabled him to deal with the unexpected whereas when Solomon realises he cannot pay his rent, he has no idea what to do. Balthazar would just make a video in such a situation I suppose; again in another type of film he might get Solomon to do just that. Instead he agrees to buy some of the supplements.

The online aspect of the story is used merely to enable the duo to meet which means that Balthazar’s videos, featured so prominently in the online promotion for the film don’t appear as much as you’d imagine. The filmmakers realise that this story only sparks fully into life when Balthazar and Solomon meet IRL. Overall the film feels uneasy, tense and thought provoking. James William Blades’ synth led Eighties style soundtrack which isn’t an obvious choice, works really well. 

It’s debateable whether the narrative uses the horror of school shootings in an exploitative manner, there is some soundtrack but we don’t see anything and once we learn Solomon would never really carry out such an act it turns the story in a different direction. The result is an absorbing, edgy film that may not provide  answers to society’s modern malaise but picks out some of the problems with laser sharp accuracy.