Written and directed by Jeremy Borison, Noam is a closeted teenager in a religious community who discovers he might not be alone. When he finds a love letter written to his grandfather by another man before the Holocaust, he sets out to find this mysterious person and uncover both his grandfather’s identity as well as his own. Starring: Charlie Korman, Katherine Kamhi, Michael Zap, Liz Richman, Victor Kallett, Jenna Herz, Jill Karrenbrock and Catherine Bruhier.
While queer stories are becoming more common in film and television today, there’s still plenty of ground to explore and a particularly relevant theme is coming-of-age gay stories within strict religious communities. It’s a difficult topic, such young, vulnerable people dealing with discovering their identity and how it could destroy their relationship with their family. Doing that in a way which does its poignancy justice but is still accessible to different ages isn’t easy but Jeremy Borison achieves that with Unspoken.
Borison adds a nice spin to the coming-of-age and coming out stories, it envelops the layers of religion and family to make something that’s new yet familiar. Mixing the classic themes of anxiety, identity and school yard crushes with Jewish heritage and traditional communities makes for a compelling combination. It has a really nice weight to it without making anything feel heavy, instead it provides a space to expand the characters’ personalities. Particularly with Noam (Charlie Korman) in that he can explore his sexuality and feelings in the context of relating to his family and their history.
Korman does a wonderful job of capturing the intense awkwardness and anxiety of being a queer kid in a traditional community. It’s so convincing that it’s almost painful to watch at times, as he portrays that overt sensitivity, jumping at any mention of homosexuality for fear that it might relate back to him. He also does really well to touch upon that idea of when you’re trying to figure yourself out and have an idea in the back of your mind of who you might be, you start to see that in others, or that the answers you’re looking are skewed by what you’re hoping to find.
His very real, grounded performance is matched by Borison’s directorial style. It manages to instil a hint of sweetness, there’s a warmth below the complex issues, which adds to its very young feel. It has a strong aesthetic throughout which helps to boost the depth of the atmosphere and emotion. The pacing is great, coming in at ninety-minutes it doesn’t overextend itself and it progresses well to add some tension and maybe even a little suspense into the mix.
Unspoken is a fresh take on a coming-of-age story, taking something that is so familiar and giving it a breath of life. It encompasses a lot of relatable and relevant issues and does a great job to add weight to its story without becoming heavy. Charlie Korman takes the lead extremely well, giving a confident and utterly convincing portrayal of a very conflicted and curious young man, and has a strong supporting cast behind him, especially Michael Zap and Liz Richman. Ultimately, it’s a lovely addition to the library of queer coming-of-age films which is thankfully growing larger each year.
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