‘Boulevard’, last Robin Williams film, a sad one

Movie keys us into an actor’s pain, but in diminished light.

Those hoping that “Boulevard” might lessen the sting of Robin Williams’ death will be disappointed by the film containing his last onscreen performance. This is not the beautiful gift that arrives by mail to remind us, months after the sender’s passing, of a glorious life. It is rather something that keys us into an actor’s pain and yet presents him in a diminished light.

The film attempts to tell the story of a gay man who has been aware of his sexuality since the age of 12, but who has gone 48 years without doing anything about it. Somewhere along the line, he stumbled into a marriage (to a woman, played by Kathy Baker) and stayed married. He also stumbled into a job as a loan officer in a bank, and he has stayed there, too, for almost three decades.

Obviously, this is a rather passive character, one that calls for a performance that suggests that. But even a passive person isn’t completely without energy. Even a passive person will be active in some areas of life. Instead, what we get in “Boulevard” is a script that amplifies a good actor’s worst tendencies, to play every moment — virtually every line of dialogue — as one of repressed emotion.

The idea it seems to want to put forth is that Nolan (Williams) is contained and meek in all areas of his life, because of the fundamental thing he’s suppressing, his sexuality. But as presented here, the problem seems the reverse. His inability to express his sexuality is just one problem and fairly far down the list. This man can’t even talk to people. He can’t have an authentic interaction. He can’t enjoy anything. He is miserable, outside and inside, and can’t begin to fake it.

In a certain sense it’s nice to see Williams, but not really, not like this. To watch “Boulevard” is to keep circling back to the question: Was it merely an actor’s misguided inspiration, to take a repressed character and turn him into a grievously depressed one? Or was Williams simply unable to do it any other way?