ALEX STRANGELOVE

US, 2018, 90 minutes, Colour.
Daniel Doheny, Madeleine Weinstein, Daniel Zholghadri.
Directed by Craig Johnson.

Alex Strangelove is a high school student, an expert on science and animals and birds. His nickname is Truelove. He is a personable young man, something in the vein of the young Andrew Garfield. He is the class captain and has a video project which he shares with a newcomer to the class, Claire, played by Madeleine Weinstein. They co-host a video show for the whole school – and he considers her his girlfriend.

He has a couple of friends who are, to say the least, excessively sex-preoccupied, crass in their approach to women, using the language of “sluttish� to describe women but not to describe themselves. Alex is caught up in this culture, still a virgin but wanting to lose his virginity with Claire, who is willing. There are some background scenes of the families of both Alex and Claire.

This is one of those films about a boy acknowledging his sexual orientation, picked on when very young, suppressing these memories, not wanting to be gay.

He meets a young man, Elliot, at a party and accepts invitations from Elliot to go to a band and party, the audience seeing the attraction but his not realising it. Eventually, Alex and Claire go to a hotel, Alex imagining Elliot, failing in the sexual encounter, Claire being upset.

Eventually, Alex will talk to his friends and be encouraged by them, reconcile himself with Claire and invite her to the prom, she inviting Elliot – and Alex and Elliot acknowledging their attraction.

This is the kind of film which is designed for a young male audience, young men who are trying to come to terms with their sexual orientation – and a film for parents to help them understand and support.