Wild Tigers I Have Known

Logan is a soft spoken and lonely 13 year old boy with a crush. Unlike his equally lonely friend Joey, who obsesses over the sexual exploits of the popular boys, Logan is fixated on the boys themselves, particularly Rodeo Walker. Logan's infatuation with Rodeo inspires him to create a new persona named Leah. Leah and Rodeo grow close through whispered late night phone calls, and when Leah agrees to meet Rodeo face to face it is Logan who must finally prove that he can ask for what he so achingly wants. Arriving with the Gus Van Sant stamp of approval, Wild Tigers I Have Known blurs the line between indie film and experimental art. With the aid of cinematographer Aaron Platt, Cam Archer fills his debut with dreamy visuals, like Wong Kar-Wai set loose in Santa Cruz. The story concerns 13-year-old Logan (the full-lipped Malcolm Stumpf), who lives with his frazzled single mother (Fairuza Balk) and harbors a crush on 14-year-old Rodeo (Patrick White). Through a chance meeting, Logan gets to know the object of his lust, and abandons nerdy best friend Joey (the bowl cut-sporting Max Paradise). Rodeo prefers women, so Logan invents a female persona named Leah, who exists only on the phone, to initiate a virtual relationship (Ruth Elliot voices his alter ego). Meanwhile, mountain lions roam the woods, encroaching on human habitation. This concerns Logan, who identifies with the confused cats. Plus, the school mascot is the tiger--and that's as far as the filmmaker takes his title metaphor. Archer got his start by making shorts with Platt, and Wild Tigers often feels like a short writ large. Filters, dissolves, and ambient sound design contribute to Logan's sense of disorientation. At its most self-indulgent, the film comes dangerously close to the superficial aesthetics of a music video or fragrance ad (the DVD includes Archer's clip for Emily White's title song). For moviegoers tired of creaky comedies about gay first love, where the hero has a spunky gal pal with a sideline in snappy retorts, however, it represents a distinct alternative. --Kathleen C. Fennessy