David Duchonvy is best remembered for having played FBI Special Agent Fox Mulder in Chris Carter’s The X-Files. Since the show ended, in addition to acting, Duchovny has written several books, started his own band, and turned his attention to directing. After years of directing television he now turns his talents to features, opting to adapt one of his own books – Bucky F*cking Dent – for his debut.
As well as adapting the story and directing, Duchovny also casts himself in the co-lead role of Marty. He plays alongside Logan Marshall-Green who plays Marty’s son Ted. Set during the baseball season of 1978, Bucky F*cking Dent sees Ted go to extreme lengths to trick his dying father into thinking that his beloved, but very unlucky, sports team, The Red Sox, are finally winning.
It’s a sweet premise, but one that forms only the sugar-coating to a rather bitter pill. Marty has terminal lung cancer and the threat of him dying looms large in every scene. However, rather than being a tear-jerking drama, Duchovny infuses the story with a light-hearted spirit and sense of hope. This approach works far better than making everything all doom and gloom from the outset. Instead, the emotional weight sneaks up on the viewer, for all it to land with surprising force.
Both Duchovny and Marshall-Green work beautifully on screen. The two look and feel like family, which is integral to both the humour and the eventual heartache to land. There is an easy banter between them as father and son, and their exchanges flow freely, helping loosen up what could have otherwise been a rigid structure. The pair are so loose at times that there is the impression that the duo went off script, improvising their way through. This organic feel to their partnership is a vital component and with anyone else in either role, Bucky F*cking Dent simply would not work.
As director, Duchovny straddles the line between comedy and drama wonderfully. Like many people suffering with terminal diseases, Marty has a morbid, almost gallows, humour streak to him. This is an important reflection of reality as laughter really can be a great medicine, as can belief. It is Marty’s hope and excitement about the Red Sox winning that pulls him through much of his illness, and although fiction, it demonstrates the ability for the power of the mind to be as good a healer as medicine. The montages of Ted and Marty’s friends working together to keep Marty in the dark about the real scores are sweet and heartwarming. These scenes harken back to films of yesteryear where neighbours helped each other no matter what.
Simultaneously working as a familial story of reconnection between father and son, sports comedy, and end-of-life drama, Bucky F*cking Dent takes some big swings. Whilst it doesn’t quite hit a home run, due to a slight sag in pace around the middle as the tone begins to veer into more serious territory, Duchovny’s debut is far from striking out.
Bucky F*cking Dent
Summary
In adapting one of his own stories, David Duchovny’s familiarity with the source enables him to focus on bringing Bucky F*cking Dent to life in a thoroughly engaging way.
Bucky F*cking Dent was reviewed at Glasgow Film Festival 2024.
