Highly Overrated But Still Good

Best movie ever!

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

I didn't read the summary before watching, but I should have. I was expecting a family adventure about a teen or teens in the wilderness. The wilderness does appear in the first scene of the movie, but it is actually just James walking through some woods that are not that far from civilization. In fact, he appears to be getting chased by bullies. While the same woods appear several more times, mostly in flashbacks, the wilderness he refers to is something his farther described. Most of the movie takes place in an unidentified city.James listens to depressing music (though compared to the 80s-style alternative garbage that passes for music most of the time in this movie, Chopin actually sounds pretty good to me) and reads depressing literature. He recently lost his father and he is having trouble relating to other people in general. For this reason his mother is sending him to a shrink, who I did not recognize. He is Danny DeVito, now gray with a beard. While in the waiting room James meets a cute girl, Val, with an attitude. Not much happens in the shrink's office and James manages to escape by claiming he needs to use the rest room. Once he does, he sees street musician Harmon. Later James is out at night in the city despite his mother's concerns and is running from some mysterious people. He gets on a train and there is Harmon. Harmon and James become friends and begin hanging out. Harmon also has a lesbian friend Crystal who sometimes likes men too, so I guess that actually makes her bi. The friends get high and also go to a place where either the composers of the music were high, you have to be high to appreciate the music, or the music makes you think you're high. During his adventures, James sees the food truck where Val works. They end up becoming friends but have fun separately from the others, including in a wilderness area. James got into a prestigious school, but he appears likely to waste the opportunity. He is actually having a good time being around these people who are a bad influence, though his "girlfriend" has higher moral standards.I get the impression this was a quality production, but just not the sort of thing that would appeal to me. Most of the leading actors do a good job, and Evan Ross in particular stands out as Harmon, and Harmon's music is quite good (if you like that sort of thing). He can even do what sounds like Chopin. I can't say for sure it was, but from what he said, it must have been.One scene has some creative editing. James and his girlfriend are at the lake and the audio continues throughout the scene even though it doesn't always match the video. A lot of the time we are just seeing them having fun in the water as they continue to talk.If you like seeing young people rebel against those who only care about their best interests, and you like terrible music that young people enjoyed in the 80s, this might be for you.

This is the kind of film for which cinema was invented ! Probably made on a tiny budget, it looks utterly beautiful, tells a simple story in a poetic way and moves deeply. It oozes atmosphere and doesn't take a single wrong step. I can't recommend it highly enough!

This indie story revolves around the teen James Charm, portrayed by Kodi Smit-McPhee, who's very intelligent, likes to read, sketch in a notebook, and listen to Chopin. However, since his father passed away, some 6 months before, he's been extremely withdrawn and uncommunicative, and we will only learn very late in the film the shocking details of his father's death.Seemingly unable to express himself to his mother (Virginia Madsen) or even his therapist (Danny DeVito), he will befriend both Val (Isabelle Fuhrman) and Harmon (Evan Ross) in two separate chance encounters, and they will help to draw James out of his shell somewhat.The movie was written and directed by Michael Johnson, and is only 1 hour and 16 minutes in length.In summary, although the acting here is solid, the script doesn't allow for the viewer to really know anything below the surface about the characters they're depicting. Thus, for me, they became sort of clichéd caricatures and I couldn't totally "buy into" their individual stories. One of the plot elements near the end of the movie is quite shocking, but it came across as rather gimmicky as well. Thus, all in all, a fair rating here.

Director/writer Michael Johnson has offered a wonderful film about finding the 'self'.Here we have James Charm with an obsession for dead things like birds, insect, and wilderness dwelling creatures and sketching their dead bodies into his journal. James also visits a therapist, reluctantly. There is something bothering James and we the viewer are kept in the dark until the end of the story as to what he is depressed about.To find himself he sneaks out at night and goes into the inner city. This is James wilderness. We learn earlier in the story that his father told James about the wonders of the wilderness and that we all have some of that wilderness within us. James is looking for himself and there is one scene with his therapist (Danny DeVito) that is James awakening moment. He discovers he cannot ever know why his father .... He can only know about himself! This is a sensitive movie wonderfully edited and filmed. I was particularly taken with how director Michael Johnson portrayed James inner demons. The story is about growing up and learning about the world we live in as opposed to the world within us.