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Neverland

Water Bearer Films / Year: 2003

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Synopsis

Do you believe in fairies?

Review

In an amusement park called Neverland lives a winged fairy with a t-shirt that says "Fuck Off", a native-American drag queen who tells stories while passing the ceremonial bong, an all-gay maintenance crew that look like they stepped out of a circa 1975 leather porn video, a man known as "Hook" who leads the crew and a gang of homeless pretty boys led by the pansexual teen who never grows up, Peter Pan.

Damion Dietz's (Fag Hag) latest film is a startlingly original retelling of J.M. Barrie's classic growing-up story "Peter Pan". In a sharp break from Dietz's past films, which have been ultra-low budget but loads of fun nonetheless, Neverland is a crisp, professional-looking and serious feature film. It was photographed by Derek Dale, who has done hundreds of music videos, using new MiniDV technology that allowed use of 35MM lenses to achieve a rich, film-like pallette.

The film opens in the home of the Darlings - a wealthy self-absorbed couple who have three adopted children: Wendy, John (Wil Wheaton - Wesley on "Star Trek: Next Generation") and Michael. The Darlings think Wendy is the mature teenager who keeps her more rebellious siblings in line. Wendy has dreads as long as Tracy Chapman and in reality, she's had it up to here with her obnoxious parents. The Darlings go away for the weekend leaving it all in the capable hands of Wendy. When Wendy discovers Peter Pan downstairs creeping around, she doesn't just throw him out, she listens to his tale. He tells her that fairies exist and that he can take her to Neverland where people never grow up. By the time the boys hear the story, off they go in an old, once-elegant car on a never-to-forget ride. Neverland is an amusement park with lights glowing and tinkling music. Peter brings his new friends to the lost boys, a group of runaways who live in the park. They hide from Hook and his pirates, the maintenance crew, who intend on kidnapping and raping the boys.

Is a never-ending childhood preferable to an aging reality? There is no Sandy Duncan or Mary Martin in Neverland, a decidedly non-Disney film. In reaching into the dark side of J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan, Damion Dietz gives us a queer telling of this now-legendary tale, one you won't soon forget.

-- Scott Cranin

Customer Reviews

We Won't Grow Up

Amos Lassen wrote on 02/20/2011:

“NEVERLAND”
WE WON’T GROW UP
Amos Lassen
Peter Pan is our hero and we love movies about him. At least it seems that way. It also seems that every time we turn around there is a new project based on the story of the kid who doesn’t grow up. “Neverland” (Water Bearer Films) is yet another telling of J.M. Barrie’s classic tale but this time our characters are slackers. This film is geared to a gay audience mainly because Captain Hook is a big old queer with S/M tendencies (which is not really implicit in the film). Nevertheless, “Neverland” is a good movie and one that deserves to be seen.
The Darling Family has three children which they adopted. John (Wil Wheaton) is a 23 year old who has dropped out of everything, Michael (Marcus Reynaga) seems to be addicted to Ritalin, and Wendy (Melany Bell) is a beautiful Afro American girl who is also the baby sitter for the children. The kids are not really happy with their adopted parents and while planning an escape from hope, a surprise visitor, Peter Pan (Rick Sparks) suddenly appears looking for lost car keys. He tempts the Darling children to run away….to Neverland, an amusement park where Hook is the superintendent. Once they agree we see that Wendy and Tinkerbell are not going to get along as Tink is jealous of pansexual Pan’s obvious attraction to the Darling girl. We then meet the Lost Boys, Tiger Lily (a drag queen) and the other characters of the original story who have been modified for this retelling. Here we learn of the gay subplot when Hook relates that the Lost Boys are riffraff and he wants to get rid of them since he is finished with using them for his own purposes,
I found this new take on the old story to be marvelous and interesting. The fact that it has been update to post modern and set in a realistic location made it appeal to me all the more. It was almost as if I was art one of the gatherings of the Radical Faeries with the eclectic cast of the film. But the fantastic story comes to a halt when we realize the dark dangers which inhabit this Neverland. Captain Hook’s determination to rid the place of the youth and beauty that he covets gives the movie s scary edge and makes the viewer wonder why youth can be so obnoxious. It is the dark side of life in Neverland that propels us to have a look at our lives and society and see that a pop culture consciousness is not the best way to live.
The cast is beautiful but not all are skilled in acting but they do give us an interesting take on a classic fairy tale. Although not explicit sexually, “Neverland” is sensual and arousing. I love the idea behind the film but I do wish that the direction would have been a bit stronger. The beautiful photography was sometimes marred by some unprofessional camera work. I really like the film but I did feel that it could have been so much better than it was. There was great potential that was only partially used. With the strange twists and turns of the movie, interest is kept up and the kinkiness of the plot provides us with a lot of fun. It is not a wonderful movie but it is a good movie—one that deserves to be seen. During my first viewing I felt that it was a bit amateurish. When I watched it a second time, I realized how much I had missed. There is a certain beauty in its perversity and that was enough for me. Sure, I have seen better but rarely have I seen a movie based on a tired story that is quite as original as “Neverland”.

Not even half a star

RGilbert wrote on 05/14/2007:

Extremely piss poor attempt at retelling the Peter Pan Story on a present day level and through a gay perspective. As for the gay part of it (you have to use your imagination dear)

Amazing movie!

BjoernClausen (bjoernclausen@msn.com) wrote on 09/06/2005:

I really REALLY enjoyed watching this movie. It was just a new and refreshing view on the Peter Pan mythology, and it has never been done like this before.
All the cute guys in this: Wow!!
But even so, that's really not the point.. Even thought this is a low budget movie, it does not feel like it at all.

Thank you Damion Dietz, for making this wonderful picture!

Provocative entertainment with a queer angle

SWIMCOACH wrote on 11/15/2004:

It takes a lot to surprise me, but I was shocked by this. This has to be one of the most subversive things I've ever seen... and not like a porn version of "Alice in Wonderland" or something like that. This low-budget movie very subtly and gradually melted away the Peter Pan mythology and rebuilt it in the most disturbing way. It was as if the filmmakers took the story of Peter Pan and forced it to grow up, without changing its core. A masterful concept that was handled extraordinarily well despite some obvious budget limitations.

My boyfriend cried at the end of this film and couldn't stop. While I found it challenging on an intellectual level, I didn't have the emotional response that he did. When I asked him why he found it so sad he told me that when he was young he would always dream that Peter would show up and fly him away to Neverland, and as he got older he of course had the "prince charming" fantasy. He told me that watching this movie was like the symbolic nail in the coffin of that dream. So not only did this movie freak me out, it made my boyfriend grow up a little. In any case, it was powerful, entertaining, and thought provoking... and very captivating.

And of course while you're watching this mind game, everything seems light and there are BEAUTIFUL people everywhere: Tiger Lily looks like a male Barbara Carrera, the lost boys look like they fell out of an A&F catalog. And I found Hook oddly sexy... his body in the leather harness in the dungeon scene was so perfect it lookes like a cartoon.

So when someone says they hate this movie and they want to throw the DVD against the wall, I can understand where they are coming from. Neverland delivers a strong, harshly realistic message in a gorgeous package... but we can't hate the messenger now, can we?

4 out of 4

Do you believe in fairies?

Ethan Manning wrote on 11/15/2004:

I knew from the start that it was a low budget film, but it sparked my interest about Peter Pan. Not only did NEVERLAND bring the story up to date, it made it almost more believable.

A lot a freaky turns, like Hook's a janitor at an amusement park called Neverland? And he's into doing kinky things with his "Hook" and the bad "lost" boys.

OK its hard to explain I guess, but you do get everything that you except and a bit more.

SO if you are a big Peter Pan fan like myself and my crazy friends, you will enjoy it. But it's definitely not a film for
kids or people who don't like things a little twisted.

Do you believe in fairies?

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