Powerful

Best movie ever!

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

This is the story of Andy (Charlie Tahan), a young man confined to a wheelchair and apparently getting weaker. It is also the story of his weak-willed father Richard (Michael Shannon), and Maryann (Natasha Calis), the new neighbour about Andy's age. Reeling from the loss of her parents (she lives with her grandparents), she makes a friend in Andy. This is also the story of Andy's horrendous mother Katherine (Samantha Morton), ostensibly over-protective of her dying son but far, far more than that.Maryann is unresponsive and ungrateful to her grandparents (Leslie Lyles and Peter Fonda), so it is easy for them to believe it when Katherine suggests, with a smile, the girl may have behavioural problems. Her friendship with the lad is a heartfelt one, marred only by the mischief all children are guilty of. Certainly it is undeserving of Katherine's wrath. It's during such a mishap that Maryann, hiding in the basement, discovers a dark secret.This increasingly disturbing story is expertly directed by John McNaughton, who handles the onslaught of revelations and horror in spellbinding fashion. Initial cruelty is revealed to mask a far more sombre situation. Not entirely unlike Kathy Bates from 'Misery (1990)', Morton gives Katherine a measured stillness, a dangerous sense of calm (often with her trademark tiny smile), so that when her anger does erupt, it is extraordinary. This is an engrossing, quite disturbing production, with terrific acting, especially from the juveniles.

This horror-drama has a lot going for it, namely the characters. A young girl befriends a crippled boy whose parents are a bit off kilter. As the movie moves along, we find one is really off kilter, and both are dangerous. The mother is a doctor, and the father a nurse. True to form, the more professional one is the more dangerous and more apt to be playing God. A few incidents along the way that I won't spoil, but the "twist" I did see coming, because it was what I thought when I first saw the "other kid". The best thing about the movie are the characters in between the heroine and villainess. Making such characters three dimensional, as this film does, is what makes a film great. The father is one of the best film villains I've seen in a long time. Multi-dimensional, and certainly motivated, his character makes the film work. The mother is you usual one dimensional Hollywood evil tyrant, and I'm not saying such characters don't exist, because they do, and this film does the correct thing in making this character the one true nut job in the movie. Lots to like.

I was expecting more. There are some good actors. The movie is more like an afterschool special of horror movies, seriously. Do not expect to be scared. Some good anxiety moments, but the plot was underwhelming. Not really a B-movie, not sure how to classify this. Like I said before good acting, but the plot is a big nope for me. Left a lots of things unanswered in the plot and at the end.

"The Harvest" is an entertaining, passable thriller about children conspiring against evil adults. It doesn't put a foot wrong; it feels like one of those made-for-TV movies about real life cases of suburban crime. It's watchable, but forgettable.The "harvest" of the title refers to organ harvest, and I was surprised to find that this movie apparently wasn't based on a true story. A boy is kept sick and bedridden by his doctor parents, played by Michael Shannon and Samantha Morton, who seems to be channeling Annie Wilks and Nurse Ratchet. A new arrival to the neighbourhood comes across the boy but is forbidden by the mother to play with him. Breaking the rules, she discovers a secret in the basement, and in the boy's relationship with the two doctors.It is revealed at the end that the boy knew at least some of these secrets. So why didn't he tell the girl right away? She could have helped him escape earlier.The plot ignores details like this so that it can have its generic thriller moments without really connecting with the audience. The result is a movie that's watchable but forgettable.