Rob Munday

Whilst most coming-of-age stories see their youthful protagonists escape numerous sticky situations (like being bitten by the scrapyard dog or captured by a bank-robbing mother-and-son team) through the same childish recklessness that got them into it in the first place, the lead characters in Mees Peijnenburg’s Even Cowboys Get to Cry aren’t so lucky. Screened at numerous festivals worldwide and created as a Netherlands Film Academy grad film, Peijnenburg’s film sees a once inseparable friendship tested when life doesn’t pan out as smoothly as the pair are used to.

The story of how a relationship between two young boys changes when one is put into a coma during a street fight, according to his interview over on Dazed, Peijnenburg’s narrative was inspired after recalling a conversation with a friend when they were 12-years old. “He told me back then that if you never cry, your tears will dry and so you could never cry again. As a 12-year-old I really thought this could be true, since I didn’t cry so much”. With this dubious revelation ringing in his mind, Peijnenburg and writer Merinde Verbeek wanted to create a storyline that showed that everyone feels pain and everyone cries. Creating a narrative where we literally witness the film’s main characters transform from worry-free reckless boys to mindful adolescents in its 20-minute running time.

Described as ‘a film about losing your youth, loneliness, violence and guilt: an homage to friendship’, Even Cowboys Get to Cry isn’t exactly light Saturday afternoon viewing, but it’s exactly the kind of film I want to see scheduled in our LongShort slot we save for this day. A challenging, emotive narrative combined with assured filmmaking and compelling performances, Peijnenburg’s short feels like a scene from a larger universe, but also works perfectly as a stand-alone storyline. For a student project, this is really impressive filmmaking and can only bode well for a director so early into his chosen career path.