According To Otto **

Starring: Jasper Musgrave, Wayne Tunks, Jacinta Moses, Tasha O'Brien, Brendan Paul 

Director: Wayne Tunks

Country: Australia

UK Distributor: Prime

On the morning of his sixteenth birthday, Otto (Musgrave) decides to come out of the closet. His dad (Tunks, who also wrote and directed) is pretty supportive, while his mother (Moses) takes a while to process the news. But Otto’s real problem is at school, where he’s on the receiving end of a lot of bullying and he’s scared how his best friend Max (Paul) will react, for whom he is hiding a secret crush.

Based on the stage play that debuted at Sydney Mardi Gras in 2018, the film has assembled its original cast, meaning that the actors playing teenagers look implausibly older than their characters. And that’s not the only thing that stumbles in this stage-to-screen adaptation.

The film’s biggest narrative device is that Otto’s imagination runs away with him, creating imaginary outcomes to events his too scared to tackle. And while this sounds perfectly filmic, with jump-cuts taking us back to reality, the vision of this film is sadly confined to the limits of possibility for the stage, not the silver screen. As a result, these fantasy scenarios feel somewhat tame when there’s so much further Tunks could have pushed this device.

As with most coming-of-age/coming-out movies, it’s the quirks of its supporting cast that provide the film’s light and shade, but despite some real attempts to make us laugh, the punchlines don’t land and it all just feels a bit saccharine-sweet. It’s feel-good escapism, that’s for sure, but you can’t help but wish it has more of a naughtier edge.

UK Release: Out now to stream on Prime

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