There are those times when you see a movie that truly moves you, that makes you realize how great this medium truly is. That’s the case with Hellbent on Boogie. At first glance, it didn’t seem like much, but then it hit me. It’s a film set in Florida where I currently live, but it’s more than just that which connected me to it. It’s about real people with real problems that feel very authentic. That is a rare thing to capture these days in films. 

Alan (Shiloh Fernandez, The Birthday Cake) is a young man who is a drifter, but decides to go back home to see his mother Simona (Doreen Llerena) and his sister Quinn (Alyx Ruibal) He brings with him some baggage from the past that is an underlying problem. He’s a bit of a troublemaker, but he wants to make amends by helping his sister out and working for the local pastor, Pastor Elswit (John Farley) His troubled past catches up with him even though he’s trying to do good by his family and specifically his little sister.

Vito Trupiano the writer/director infuses this story with a lot of elements I am familiar with in my own life. The first being one of the main characters played by Alyx Ruibal has autism. She is mainly referred to as learning disabled, but she’s on the spectrum.  Her mother and neighborhood friend homeschool her and help her take the high school assessment tests. This helps disguise the actual abnormality that she has. This doesn’t help her in the real world, even though she’s a gifted dancer and instructor at a young age. I have a learning disability and I understand the difficulties of trying to get people to realize what is going on.  People just don’t always see what’s inside a person, they only see what is on the outside. It’s a difficult thing living with a disability whether it’s autism or something less debilitating like a learning disability. Trupiano shows the problems people have with these kinds of difficulties perfectly. I was genuinely moved by how he dealt with the writing and direction of this specific character.

As far as the Fernandez character it was a little different,  but equally impressive to me. Even though he came back home he wanted to change and make a difference for his sister and mother. His past still haunts him, but he tries to make amends by working at the local Christian church for the pastor fixing an old Lincoln Continental.  This helps build trust in the pastor’s eyes. Also helping his sister with her dance class and routine so she can try out for a dance competition in Orlando gives him a purpose in life. He didn’t know what he was going to do once he got back home until he started to see how things were once he got back. Fernandez is a good young actor. He’s been a few things in supporting roles before, but this role shows he has what it takes to be a good actor. He controls every scene he’s in, and he’s the emotional center of this story and film.

This movie had a lived-in look and feel to it. Characters sweat because it took place in sunny hot Florida. The mobile homes looked authentic to every town in the state.  There are thousands of mobile home parks just like the one depicted in the film in the Sunshine State. The church and pastor also had a realistic vibe to them as well. There are hundreds of little Christian churches with pastors very similar to this all over the state. Even the little diner at the beginning of the movie was very real. I’ve sat in dozens of diners just like this over the years in my travels throughout the state. I felt at home in a way while watching this film. Trupiano once again captured the world that this movie takes place in very well. I felt this was taking place to some extent in real time like this was happening while I was watching it. It’s a rare thing that a writer/ director can capture the authenticity of a place and time like this one did

Even though this movie had a nostalgic feel to it for me it also had a means to an end. The story had a purpose and the actions of the characters had meaning. Everybody in the cast knew their role and they played them very well. This is a grounded story about realistic people doing things that you’d think they could or would do. Trupiano set this movie in a modern-day context and that grounded it in reality. I was genuinely very interested in what was going on in this story. He helped me get invested in the day-to-day lives of these people. Even though I didn’t know where the story was going I still cared about the journey. These characters felt so authentic to the world he created in the film but also to the real world. I felt like they could exist in any town in any county in the entire state of Florida. They seemed like real people to me. That’s a testament to the writing and direction by Trupiano.  My hat goes off to him.

Hellbent on Boogie isn’t going to blow people’s minds, but it did mine because of where I lived the past thirty years of my life. That’s Central Florida. Trupiano creates an authentic look at this state and the type of people and places that exist here. The characters were well thought out and the actors played their roles extremely well. The scenarios that exist in the film feel like they could actually happen in real life. The disability that the Ruibal character has is very well handled. Fernandez reminded me of a lot of guys similar to him that I’ve come across in my many years of living in Florida. This movie hit me on so many levels. It was truly an emotional journey for me while watching this film. That’s a testament to the filmmaking by Trupiano and company. Everybody needs to see this movie when it starts making the rounds.

4 stars

Dan Skip Allen