TW: Paedophilia, Sexual Assault
The headline for Blue Film was that, last year, major festivals rejected its controversial themes as being too extreme. I'm not going to sugarcoat it - this film goes to a very dark place, in an attempt to have a conversation about something that thrives, and rots, in the shadows.
My thoughts first - the film is more mournful than shocking. Anyone who's spent any amount of time online, or watching indie arthouse of the last decade or even prior, will not be particularly phased by where this film goes. It is more daring than most, and more beautiful than its budget should allow. Though I found the performance by our lead Camboy Kieron Moore a little stronger than the material called for, he was certainly the man to cast – the camera loves him.
The central question being unravelled here seems deceptively simple - Is perversion innate, or inherited? By taking things to their extremes – as film is ripe and brilliant at doing – Tuttle tries to have a conversation about the most harmful versions (both internal and external) of approaches to desire and perversion that would ordinarily be shut down even in the most liberal of spaces. By forcing it into extremes, like a car crash, you're unable to watch and observe. You are vertically forced into sympathy in the face of your own moral righteousness.
This will be essentially Trigger Central for anyone who has personal experience with this topic - but for the bold few who have, and for whom this might scratch an itch the world refuses to even acknowledge, Blue Film finds its reason for being.
By the end, you are not left wondering if the bad guy is the bad guy. The film knows where it stands. Instead, you're left with the next question – and what does this mean for the rest of us? What is there to learn about nature and nurture that we're unable to shake ourselves into seeing? If the world is immutable, what does that mean about our final forms? But if the world is fluid - what might we be capable of?
Blue Film is released in UK and Irish cinemas on 11 September 2026.
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