'Whole New Thing' - MOVIE REVIEW - Los Angeles Times

"Whole New Thing" is a gentle, perceptive Canadian film that reveals the effect a gay teacher in his 40s has on a precocious 13-year-old boy who has previously been home-schooled. Director Amnon Buchbinder and co-writer Daniel MacIvor (who also plays the teacher) engage the audience with nuance and complexities of character, and eschew the predictable.

For some eight years, the Thorsens have lived in a rustic lakeside home in rural Nova Scotia. Experiencing the onset of puberty, Emerson (Aaron Webber), in the view of his mother Kaya (Rebecca Jenkins), would benefit from attending middle school in a nearby town. Already a prodigious writer who fully expects to be published before he reaches 16, Emerson is sure that he could learn nothing from a "backwater teacher," but Don proves to be anything but.

As the father, Rog (Robert Joy), an inventor-ecologist, withdraws into himself, losing faith in his belief that he can make a difference, the sultry Kaya, plunges into an affair that Emerson quickly discovers. A fresh awareness of his parents' human frailties fuels Emerson's crush on Don, who is no pedophile but a dedicated and capable teacher who is also caring for his bedridden mother. Then his longtime relationship hits a snag and he feels compelled to pursue risky anonymous sex.

What they share is that Emerson, his parents and Don are heading down paths that could spell disaster. Emerson is intellectually sophisticated beyond his years but is otherwise a naive adolescent raised in a permissive environment.

Emerson and Don are fully realized characters, well-written and well acted. Veteran Joy and Jenkins are solid actors, but their characters aren't as well developed. Also, as post-hippie types, they could have been ripe for some subtle satire, a source of humor that the movie sorely lacks. Even so, "Whole New Thing" is more satisfying than not, and it plays out credibly.

"Whole New Thing." Unrated. Language, sexual situations, some drugs. Running time: 1 hour, 32 minutes. Exclusively at Laemmle's Sunset 5, 8000 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, (323) 848-3500.