Film Of The Week

With the title Boychoir, you won’t be surprised to learn that this film is indeed about a choir of boys and that there’s some stunning boy soprano singing in it. There’s also a host of top-notch actors – Dustin Hoffman, Kathy Bates, Debra Winger, Eddie Izzard… and the angel-faced star, Garrett Wareing, who does an amazing job of miming the angelic voice of Benjamin P. Wenzelberg. 

Director François Girard (The Red Violin) sticks to the well-worn feel-good formula of this type of film (with script by Ben Ripley), where a rebellious, lost soul ends up finding themselves and triumphing thanks to a special talent. Here, the lost soul is 11 year-old Stet (Wareing), whose troubled single mother is killed in a car accident. Stet’s absent father (Josh Lucas) is contacted but wants nothing to do with the boy he’s never known – an understandable reaction considering Stet is the result of an affair of which the man’s wife and two daughters know nothing.

Lucky for Stet, his supportive headmistress (Winger) sees his singing talent and convinces his wealthy dad to pay for him to go to the prestigious American Boychoir School. There, the choirmaster, Master Carvelle (Hoffman), doesn’t want to give him any special consideration – Stet hasn’t had any musical training and is far behind the other boys in skill – but money talks and soon Stet is a student there. Not surprisingly, his presence creates jealousy and resentment among the other boys, especially the star soprano, Devon (Joe West), who sees Stet as a threat to his position after hearing him sing.

And so the scene is set with plenty of obstacles to overcome for this talented boy who doesn’t seem to have anyone to love him or be a champion for him. But at least he’s got his voice. The question is whether he can hit a high D two octaves above Middle C for a special descant written by Carvelle to sing as part of Handel’s Messiah. Stirring scenes abound and bringing along a couple of tissues is recommended for this crowd-pleaser.

by Vicki Englund