Boychoir

May 4, 2015

Showings 4:30, 7:00 and 9:10pm

USA
Rated PG | Drama | 109 minutes

From acclaimed Canadian director François Girard (Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould, The Red Violin) comes a drama that the entire family can enjoy: the story of a gifted eleven-year-old boy who must struggle against the odds to find his voice.

Stet (newcomer Garrett Wareing) is an angry youngster who can sing like an angel. Orphaned after his mother is killed in a car accident, he ends up boarding at a choir school on the US East Coast — a place about as different from his small Texas town as can be. Feeling misunderstood, out of place, and frustrated with the cards life has dealt him, Stet finds himself at odds with Choirmaster Carvelle (Dustin Hoffman, Chef, Barney’s Version), a disciplinarian of the old school. But Carvelle recognizes something special in Stet’s voice, and pushes the boy to put his troubled young soul into the music.

Boychoir will have audiences swooning as voices converge in hymns, and cracking a smile when a joyous rap breaks out in the school washroom. Supported by a star-studded cast that includes Josh Lucas (Daydream Nation), Eddie Izzard (Across the Universe), Debra Winger (Rachel Getting Married), and Kathy Bates (Midnight in Paris), Wareing makes a marvellous debut as a kid who’s been through hell but has been granted a heavenly gift.

Boychoir is about the way that music can touch our lives — if only it’s given enough encouragement to come out and play.

The best reason to see Boychoir is the chance to hear Boychoir. French-Canadian director François Girard is sharp enough to realize the value in packing in plenty angelic-voiced a cappella vocal arrangements that truly sound like heaven on earth.

—Susan Wloszczyna,  RogerEbert.com