Culture

After some preparatory research before watching this film I discovered that the historical context of Spud was 1990s South Africa, a pivotal time for South African people. The 1990s saw the abolition of apartheid, the release of Nelson Mandela after 27 years’ imprisonment, and the birth of democracy. However, after arriving at the film and seeing a lone figure slumped in the dark, I prepared myself for an underwhelming two hours.

Spud is based on the gawky and undeveloped figure of John Milton (Troye Sivan), later named Spud because damn puberty has forgotten to tell his balls to drop. Spud leaves behind his overly eccentric middle class parents to start a new beginning at an exclusive all-boys boarding school. After being sectioned into a dorm with a bunch of alpha males, Spud considers himself to be deficient in desirable masculine qualities. He finds solace in the unlikely figure of his exuberant alcoholic English teacher, “the Guv” (John Cleese) who encourages Spud to find himself and his inner sex god through inundating him with classical novels. Through literature Spud finds his inner confidence by not only pulling the lead role in his school’s musical, but also pulling two girls.

I felt the intentions of this film was to recount an inspirational boy-to-manhood story; I left thinking it was simply bizarre. The characterisation seemed to be way off, Sivan a little too feminine to play this role, and when he was paired up with his onscreen girlfriends (who looked twice his age) I couldn’t help feeling like I was witnessing paedophilia.

I don’t know if it was the fact that I was far removed from the boy-going-through-puberty-story but, all in all, like the other lone audience member I happened to converse with after, we will not be returning to see it anytime soon.

1 / 5 stars

– Emma Scammell