“Wildhood” combines the foundation of heartrending coming-of-age narratives with the feel-good elements of road trip flicks to create a delicate sophomore film from director Bretten Hannam. Link (Phillip Lewitski), a two-spirit Mi’kmaw teenager, lives with his abusive father and his wry younger half-brother, Travis (Avery Winters-Anthony). When we meet the siblings, Travis is helping Link dye his brown locks blond. The tender moment has melancholic undertones: Link’s dye job is an attempt to hide his Indigenous roots — to be more like Travis, who is not Mi’kmaw. As Link, running his fingers through his newly bleached hair, smiles and checks himself out in the dirty mirror, his hopefulness is unmistakable.

In the next scene, one of a handful of abrupt transitions in “Wildhood,” Link and Travis are rummaging for scrap metal in an abandoned warehouse. As they’re leaving, the police pull up to the dilapidated structure and arrest Link and his brother and take them to the county jail. There, Link, who has been beaten unconscious by the cops, wakes to find an old woman (Becky Julian) patting his wounds with a warm towel and speaking to him in Mi’kmaq, the language of the Mi’kmaw. Her significance becomes clear later in the film, but for now she appears to be a nuisance to the jail attendants, who find her act of care irritating.

When Link and Travis’ father, Arvin (Joel Thomas Hynes), bails them out of jail, his visible anger warns of later violence. Sick of his father’s abuse, Link plans an escape that involves barging into Arvin’s room and stealing the keys to his car. What he finds during this search, though, is a recent birthday card from his mother, Sarah (Savonna Spracklin), who he had been led to believe was dead. Enraged, Link runs out of his father’s house with the addressed envelope, Travis in tow. Before setting off on the open road, they light Arvin’s truck on fire.

Another scene cut and we are in a convenience store, where Link spots Pasmay (Joshua Odjick), a Mi’kmaw teen, while browsing the magazine selection. Pasmay, who’s immediately attracted to Link, tries to start a conversation. It’s not until Pasmay buys Travis candy and offers to help Link find his mother (he has a car, after all) that their initial tension cools.

“Wildhood” starts off slowly and gives viewers a substantial, maybe even an overly detailed, understanding of Link and his relationship with his father before getting to the main action. On the road, Link, Pasmay and Travis get to know one another. Through secrets and tough moments shared, they become a makeshift family.

The trio’s dynamic is entertaining, and they crack jokes with the same fierceness with which they argue. But it’s the evolving romance between Link and Pasmay that’s the most fun to witness. Lewitski and Odjick have a subtle and exciting chemistry that makes rooting for their budding love easy.

The effect of such a stirring romance couldn’t be achieved without the dexterous work of cinematographer Guy Godfree. At all times of day, Godfree indulges in shots of the young characters cavorting in the fields of eastern Canada, where the film was shot. Whether it’s dawn or dusk, just before the rays of the sun disappear or when it’s at the highest point in the sky, light feels critical to this journey of self-discovery.

Despite its gradual pace, “Wildhood” satisfies the conventions of both genres it aspires to — coming-of-age and road trip — and ends on a poignant, if predictable, note. The journey to those final moments is only enhanced by the charming boys who undertake the trip.

(SD-Agencies)