Bugboy

Bluesky

Metamorphoses and ephemerality are part and parcel of the insect world, whether its caterpillars spreading their wings or crickets, who only enjoy a single season in the sun. All of which means that Lucas Paleocrassas’ coming-of-age themed documentary dovetails gracefully with the insect kingdom without him needing to lay the metaphor on thick. A film all about connections, what begins as a tale of bug and boy itself metamorphoses into a tender consideration of a father and son relationship.

Teenager Yorgos is a kid who loves bugs. Eye disorder strabismus infantile esotropia, which leads one of his eyes to turn inwards, has left Yorgos shy and although it’s not expressly voiced, his parents’ divorce has evidently added to his loneliness. That is perhaps why he has sought the company of non-judgemental insects and, particularly, crickets. Paleocrassas introduces Yorgos’ passion patiently, showing his care with the animals, which are impressively captured in close-up by cinematographer Carlos Muñoz Gómez-Quintero in ways that inspire the same curiosity that Yorgos displays.

The youngster also recounts the previous summer’s friendship with a cricket he named Isabella, who became his fair weather companion and whose eggs he has kept since her death, in the hopes they will hatch. When things don’t go to plan there, a summer trip with his dad Kostas, promises to offer new companionship.

Kostas is less than enamoured with his son’s tarantula Bob but his Yorgos’ love of crickets proves infectious. “If you chased girls like this, you’d have 10 by now,” he tells him. As Yorgos strikes up a friendship with this year’s cricket, who he names Ferdinand – who actually proves a real charmer with passers by – there are also more serious moves afoot in terms of the teenager’s eye condition.

Paleocrassas gently observes Yorgos as his animal friendship blossoms at the same time as his confidence grows in general, not just in his sweet interactions with other teens but in the way he talks to his parents about what he wants from life and his relationships with them. A touching and delicately woven documentary that makes a virtue of its observational technique but isn’t afraid to break with that naturalism in order to shift perspective.

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