With Boulevard, its main pulling attraction will be the fact it is being billed as Robin Williams last ever on-screen performance. Whilst his performance is very touching we can’t help feeling that the passion had already died with this flat script.
Williams has certainly proved his worth in the drama arena in the past, delving deep into his dark and brooding side for One Hour Photo where he played a psychopath but his character in Boulevard, Nolan, whilst having a secret of a huge magnitude which is about to turn his life upside down, is a complete contrast. Nolan has been married for most of his dull adult life, he finds himself middle-aged, unfulfilled in his job as a Banker and completely disillusioned with how his life has turned out all whilst hiding from himself and the world he is homosexual.
His married life seems a sham, he shares no intimacy with his wife, and they sleep in separate bedrooms, even though they do love each other they are not in love with each other and they just co-exist in each other’s company. He regularly visits his sick father in the hospital out of pure routine.
One night on his way home, he decided to break from his monotonous routine and takes a new route, whilst nearly running over a young male rent boy, Leo (Roberto Aguire). Nolan decides to give Leo a ride and from here they start to build up a friendship which never see’s them getting truly intimate but Nolan feels extremely protective of his new found love and pay’s the boy for his company and when his pimp tries to beat him up.
Williams performance cannot be faulted as he plays a timid man who looks like he is about to break at any given moment, his character may seem average on the outside but deep down we witness a truly fragile human being. One in which you just want to take in your arms and tell him everything will be OK. You can’t help but wonder if this was what Williams felt in his last days on this Earth; it’s this performance that will tug at the heartstrings and make you think how much of Williams real life seeped into this role.
As Nolan and Leo become closer, Leo finds is extremely difficult to understand why Nolan never wants to have sexual relations with him, this boy is broken beyond repair and no matter what Nolan tries to do to save him Leo eventually pushes him away after an overdose making Nolan realise he can no longer live a lie and confronts his life full on, breaking the chains of his marriage and work life and working on becoming happy.
BOULEVARD Opens in UK Cinemas 8th April
