Boy A is the story of a young man who is desperate for a second chance to have a real life. He spent his teen years in confinement after his involvement in a grisly murder, but is released under an assumed identity upon reaching adulthood. When he is sent out into the world, he almost feels like it's too good to be true, and that he doesn't deserve it, as he never imagined that he would have a job, a group of friends, a girlfriend. The whole film feels like he's waiting for the other shoe to drop, which of course, it does; someone discovers his true identity, and overnight the public is clamouring for his blood. The entire sequence of him panicking and desperately trying to get a hold of his social worker is incredibly hard to watch, but the biggest blow comes when he escapes to the ocean and is on a pier preparing to commit suicide. He opens a letter from the little girl he rescued from a car accident, thanking him and calling him an angel. He begins to sob uncontrollably, realising that no matter what good he has done in his new life, he will never be able to escape his old one.
Audrey Fox is an ex-film student, which means that she prefers to spend her days in the dark, watching movies and pondering the director's use of diegetic sound. She currently works as an entertainment writer, joyfully rambling about all things film and television related. Add her on Twitter at @audonamission and check out her film blog at 1001moviesandbeyond.com.
