Just what I expected

Good movie but grossly overrated

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Its a shame many of those mentioned in this film are still being protected by Hollywood Globohomos.Not easy to fight the establishment!But seriously, mandatory viewing, especially if you have a child thinking of trying the movie business. THIS IS STILL GOING ON!

Since the horrific revelations concerning Harvey Weinstein, this documentary has received a significant amount of renewed interest, mostly due to the decision by executive producer Matthew Valentinas to re-release the film on Vimeo after an extremely limited theatrical release in 2014 not long after the scandal broke. Whilst the category of people that are the target of sexual abuse differ between the Weinstein story and this documentary, the incompetence (and potential complicity) of the Hollywood system evident in the abuse is much the same. This gives the already emotionally heavy documentary added weight that was only compounded by the revelations concerning actor Kevin Spacey and the further accusations directed against director Bryan Singer.Unfortunately a great deal of the coverage it has received since the Vimeo release has been from reactionary conservatives such as Mark Dice and Alex Jones, which has given the film the surface appearance of an exploitation piece designed more to permit Middle America their two minutes of righteous hate for the mean liberals who challenge their senpai Trump than to actually guide the film industry to better things. Producer Gabe Hoffman is to blame for much of this, as it has been his voice on the film's social media platforms that has associated the film's cause with lots of ugly, reactionary right-wing opinions and, worse still, memes. He should learn that people who complain about Hollywood's depravity are more often complaining about Hollywood's hypocrisy in pointing it out in others than decrying the horror of ignoring credible accusations. Furthermore, I find it suspicious that the film fills its run-time ENTIRELY with five stories of male-on-male abuse (one who I think might have even been over 18 when the abuse happened), ignoring the half of the population that has historically had less power in Tinseltown. Could it be that Hoffman wanted to capitalise on the aversion some viewers have towards homosexuals to try and make his pedophilia movie shock viewers more? Ultimately, however, the film itself is objective and non-sensational whilst retaining a strong sense of the suffering of its five subjects. Evan Henzi, a charming, compassionate teenager who suffered terrible molestation by his talent agent from the age of 12 (and threats of being sued by Hoffman when Henzi complained about certain elements of the documentary), has the most engaging story to tell, whilst Michael Egan III, who a year later was convicted for fraud (and whose accusations against Bryan Singer have essentially been discredited), has the least engaging story, primarily because it is so vague. I attribute the tone and quality of the footage captured solely to Amy J. Berg, an Academy Award winning documentarian renowned for her ability to speak truth to institutions awash with corruption and complacency. Her flare for the subtly dramatic also gives the film something of a tear-jerker ending mixed with a twist for one of the five subjects followed that, if not for the contentious suitability of the subject for a documentary about abuse of underage aspiring actors, is the film's greatest artistic triumph. Yet Berg is by no means a perfect fit for the material, as her aforementioned focus on depraved institutions results in the film having a lack of focus. It tortuously struggles to find a root cause for the whole problem, but unlike the Catholic Church or the American justice system (both past subjects of hers), Hollywood is not hierarchical enough to be reasonably declared totally apathetic on an institutional level. There's no chain of command that would have had to have known about these complaints, and the film's one attempt to try and blame a consortium of shadow investors for having knowledge of 'pedophile pool parties' is it's biggest research failure. In reality (certainly according to Chris Turcotte, who complained about being grossly misquoted in the film) most of the attending models were likely 18 years plus or one or two years shy, with a small - but nevertheless disturbing - minority of 15 to 13 year olds mixed in, and only three people were ever said to be present whilst these underage boys were skinny-dipping in the pool. The owner of the house where these parties were held, Marc Collins-Rector, is painted as the head of this conspiracy, but about the only co-conspirators the documentary can confidently offer up are his two live-in male concubines, Brock Pierce and Chad Shackley... PEDOWOOD CONFIRMED!! At least we can all agree Collins-Rector is horrible.Nevertheless, the film does a fine job at demonstrating that there are far too few safe guards against child predation, and far too few professional consequences for those found to have committed gross violations of standards of fundamental human decency. See this film to get a sense of the problem, but don't expect it to give you any clear direction of what action to take next, and against whom.

At time of writing this documentary still has been denied distribution through mainstream home video methods as well as video on demand online streaming. Before conspiracy theorists chime in, I imagine this is because of the litigation such a move might attract. It would be the distributors that would have to foot that bill. This is a shame because its an excellent introduction to the problem of pedophiles in the entertainment industry. The most famous name mentioned is X-Men director Bryan Singer who loves being around very young good looking boys. While its in doubt if he is guilty or not, his behavior comes across as really unwholesome and if guilty needs to be thrown in jail. This documentary, directed by Amy Berg, whose similar documentary on the subject, Deliver Us from Evil (2006) lifted the veil of pedophilia in the Catholic Church. So this is ground she knows only too well and she manages to avoid cliché, propaganda and aggressive judgement and instead focuses on the victims as it should. Its an important documentary and needs to be seen.

This film explores a dynamite subject with extra care and precision. Other comments here are reasonable. The film only goes so far, and it is pretty careful. Its attitude is nearly perfect. I knocked off one point for the film's not trying to show how heterosexual culture is always grooming the kids for participation later, and the gay culture therefore has made some mistakes trying to invent a way forward in secret. The film is only talking about issues concerning the effects of male pedophiles in Hollywood, and can't cover everything. What they cover is done pretty well, and that's saying a lot for a topic which often can bring more anger or confusion or circumlocution than understanding. That's surely true of heterosexual pedophilia and exploitation of young adult women in Hollywood too. Probably some of the unhealthy interest in exploiting children and young adult women was incubated in persons whose sexual development occurred in an atmosphere of fear and secrecy, or too much privilege and not enough guidance. Watching this film might help many persons avoid mistakes in behavior and mistakes in interpretation. It could help parents and the public form and implement better oversight without being too intrusive.