Kicking off the features for this year’s Grimmfest, we have the UK premiere of the bizarre and endearing The Loneliest Boy in the World.
We meet Oliver, a mentally handicap boy with an attachment to his overbearing mother. After an unfortunate incident where his mother dies, he is left truly alone in her old home.
The first thing to note is the dark humour akin to vintage Tim Burton on display here, with its overt colour scheme and heightened reality.
Oliver is warned if he doesn’t start to branch out from just watching television alone, he will be sent back to the psychiatric hospital to live.
To this end, he decides to dig up some people who recently passed away in town, to create the most unlikely family unit. From here the corpses come to life in his mind and he has to balance between keeping them a secret and keeping them in one piece.
Harking back to Burton, this almost has a Beetlejuice vibe, as the corpses start to deteriorate and Oliver has to accept this arrangement isn’t forever.
The Loneliest Boy In The World is so bizarre yet so heartfelt, as you can’t help but feel for Oliver and his plight. Some people just have really bad luck and when coupled with a mental illness, it doesn’t bode well.
It’s part coming-of-age tale, part dark horror comedy. It exists in a heightened reality that once you accept, you will become truly immersed with.
Certain to be a festival highlight.
The Loneliest Boy In The World plays as part of Grimmfest 2022.
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