The story is of two blood brothers and friends Jojo and Willy. Inseparable since childhood, they both share a love of motocross and a burning desire to leave their small town. While Willy struggles to balance his love of the sport and the academic expectations set for him by his widowed mother, Jojo is pushed to his limits by his father and his trainer, both former motocross champions who see in the teenager a chance to relive their glory days. One night Willy finds Jojo having sex with their motocross trainer, a married man with a wife and kid on the way. Initially shocked, the two friends eventually talk it out and Willy reminds him that they can talk about anything. He is a little shocked by him being with trainer but Jojo says that they are truly in love. Meanwhile, Willy is going through hard time moving on after his father's death and is trying to pursue a girl in town. The homophobia reaches its peak when a video of Jojo gets leaked (thanks to trainer's wife) and throughout school and even his parents making their shame apparent. At such times, even the trainer rejects Jojo leaving him to take his own life. Things are not going to be the same for Jojo's parents and Willy. Jojo's father tries to convince Willy to run the final motorbike race for Jojo's sake, which he agrees but the last day when he finds out. How the father treated Jojo and burnt his bike, he stops midway. In the finale, we see how Willy is finally moving on to college after passing from his school exams.
The film is all about youth, innocence and boyhood. In the first half hour of the film we see how the two boys alongwith other students just chill and enjoy drinking, braking into community pools and just having a good time. But you see how gradually the film soon moves to drama, deftly titillating between unhinged teenage freedom and eventual human tragedy. This is a queer film setup I have not seen before. The director clearly has a deep understanding of the close-knit, patriarchal, and sports-obsessed milieu his characters reside in, and the excellent performances that he gets out of his actors work together to create a film that is a captivating portrait of the pains of growing up. The friendship between Willy and Jojo is at the heart of the film, and one of the more refreshing elements of the film is that Willy doesn’t care about Jojo’s sexuality, he is just briefly hurt that his best friend wouldn’t share his real self with him. The actor playing Willy expertly navigates emotions as he deals with his friendship with Jojo, his frustration at feeling betrayed as his late father’s memory is being erased by his mother’s new boyfriend, and his blossoming romance with a girl, a fine arts student dismissed by the local boys as promiscuous. He proves incredibly effective at portraying his inner turmoil with his expressive eyes and body language. Jojo, on the other hand needed more development of his character. He is charming asa the fearless guy but it would have been nice to see more of his dynamics with his parents and also a deeper insight into his sexuality. Both actors are incredibly convincing as life-long friends; the energy they bring to their scenes together is a major reason that the film works as well as it does. The motorbike race scenes are incredibly shot and I loved those. They are thrilling and just watching them gives you an adrenaline rush.
Eventually, this is a coming-of-age film that mixes elements of coming out and macho sports culture in a small town, it is nevertheless a rewarding viewing experience that deftly captures the power of friendship and the struggle to define oneself at the brink of adulthood. A wonderful addition to the queer movie collection. (7.5/10)
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