What a waste of my time!!!

Gripping story with well-crafted characters

Awesome Movie

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Michael Adler (Aaron Stanford) is struggling to cope under the supervision of Dr. Maxim (Terry Kinney). He runs away with his younger brother Dylan from his parents (Melissa Leo, Michael Gaston). He works at a convenience store with foul-mouthed Carly (Robin Tunney) and owner Mo (Peter Gerety).It's a low budget indie. Stanford does a quiet compelling character although I would have wanted him to act out more. I want him to hint at the ultimate twist. The movie in general needs a few more visceral clues. It needs to amp up the tension so that the final twist fits better. It could have dug into his personal strive and given him a license to act out. Carly is a fun character. She saves this from being too low energy. Her relationship with Michael is great. She has one amazing scene. There is just a need for more foreboding in the tone.

Boy! This was a gripping and very well acted and written film about a very difficult subject, namely the effect of child molestation on its victims. For what appears to be an extremely low budget film, I was as intensely involved as I have been in any film in a long time. So why did I only give this film a 7? Because of the surprising ending. I realize sometimes a shocking ending can make an otherwise mediocre film worth while, like in the 1970's little seen shocker "The Baby", but in this film, after so much pain and difficulty, I was hoping for an upbeat or at least hopeful ending. It left me so let down that, despite its cleverness, I felt deflated and even depressed. I can't imagine this film finding much audience beyond the festival circuit, no matter how much it deserves to be admired. I don't have to have a Hollywood ending, but a little sliver of something hopeful would have helped.

Wow. Being a fan of Aaron Stanford, I'd spent almost two years looking for this movie before it came out on Netflix. Firstly, let me say the only reason I didn't give this movie a ten out of ten was the ages of the boys. I think Aaron Stanford could have pulled off seventeen or eighteen (since he did it in the X-men movies), rather than have him at twenty-one. That was a little unbelievable. Being a pedophile, his father would have moved on long before he turned twenty-one. But other than that, this movie grabs you from the start. The abuse scenes are done in a very tactful manner, unlike some movies I've seen where they try to make a porno out of molestation or rape. We see just enough to let us know what's going on, and that's it. And the ending was amazing. I pride myself on being able to correctly guess the ending of a movie nine times out of ten. This ending was nowhere close to what I expected. Over all, it's not a tear-jerker per say. And it's not a happy movie. There's no 'happy ending'. It's a serious, sad look at the life of a young man whose life has been ruined by years of abuse. Other than the age thing, it's a gritty, realistic movie that just tugs at your heart. The acting was amazing. Again, I was an Aaron Stanford fan for a while before this, but after watching this... Just wow. He pulled it with flying colors. Zach Savage and Peter Gerety were also pretty good. Robin Tunney wasn't bad, just... some of her lines seemed too rushed. Most of it was very good, but a few lines (the one where she reveals her scars being an example) she just seemed to plough through them. But still... If you like realistic looks into the aftermath of abuse, this is an excellent film.

I saw this at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival with the director and producer present. I unfortunately didn't have time to stay for the Q&A.This is a story about a protective elder brother and his younger brother who are runaways in a small non-descript town.But just what are they running away from? Well -- we fairly quickly have a pretty good idea what that something might be though with a series of spread out flashbacks depicting a somewhat troubling home life. But then I felt I was waiting for the movie to get rolling, when instead it took it's time. Perhaps a bit too much time for my pacing.Regardless, the film does a good job at creating suspense amongst our troubled characters. In particular, the role of the elder brother's co-worker, played by Prisonbreak's Robin Tunney was excellent. She's right on as the carefree yet sympathetic shoulder to lean on.Overall, this was a good movie to watch, with a good screenplay and good acting.