BFI London Film Festival 2023: Bonus Track

When director Julia Jackman was invterviewed on the red carpet for the world premiere of Bonus Track, she spoke about how important it was to her make a film showcasing gay joy. It’s a noble aim - there arent’t many examples of films that depict gay love without a tinge of sadness and regret to it. Gay love is usually presented as something that’s existentially linked to pain and suffering.

In that context and to that end, Bonus Track is a charming and worthwhile film. It follows George (Joe Anders) during the pinnacle of his awkward teenage years. He’s about to leave school and he’s completely disinterested in everything except for the dream that he might become a superstar musician one day. Max (Samuel Paul Small) is the famous son of two musicians that George is a fan of, who has conveniently ended up as a new kid at his school following their high profile divorce.

The two hit it off, more or less out of nowhere and in quite an unlikely fashion, and it’s all quite nice despite its faults. Otherwise, though, its faults are very difficult to ignore.

All we know about George is that he wants to be a musician, and all we know about Max is that his parents are musicians. Everyuthing they do, and everything that happens to them, is driven by those key points about their characters. But we never learn about what any of it means to either them, and there isn’t any depth to who they are as people as a result of those key points. As big a fan of music George is, he only listens to one song in the entire film. That’s about as deep as it gets.