Directed by:
Trudie StylerCinematography:
Dante SpinottiComposer:
Dan RomerCast:
Alex Lawther, Abigail Breslin, AnnaSophia Robb, Bette Midler, Laverne Cox, Willa Fitzgerald, Lorraine Toussaint, Ian Nelson, Larry Pine (more)VOD (1)
Plots(1)
Could Billy Bloom be like everyone else if he wanted to? It would certainly save him a whole lot of trouble. But he has absolutely no desire to be like them. When others call him theatrical, he takes it as a compliment; when his classmates feel provoked by his drive to be different, it only motivates him further. 'The nail that sticks out gets hammered down', his father warns him. That does not deter Billy from deciding to run for homecoming queen. Somewhere in-between David Bowie, Lady Gaga, Freddy Mercury and Oscar Wilde, in the transgressive space of pop culture and dressed up as a high school comedy with wit, heart and a dazzling cast, Freak Show is about the violence of conformity and the power of self-determination. (Berlinale)
(more)Reviews (1)
The title confuses the viewer referring to a horror classic, but Freak Show is actually a colourful drama about otherness and tolerance towards others, which not always happens. I found the main character very strange at first and found it hard to sympathise with him, but by the middle of the film this broke down and I was really rooting for Billy. AnnaSophia Robb was endearingly goofy, Abigail Breslin was again a convincing monster, and the icing on the cake was the diva Bette Midler. But the whole film stands on the performance of Alex Lawther, who clearly enjoyed his role immensely.
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