How sad is this?

Good movie but grossly overrated

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

I have read reviews for this movie, giving it a lot of hate. I really loved this movie and thought that it was quite heart felt and beautiful. While i agree with a lot of other reviewers that this movie was a missed opportunity and there was a lot of potential that should have been utilized, people aren't thinking about the budget of this movie. If this was a multi-million dollar budget movie then I feel that some of that extra potential could have been reached but since there was so little of a budget, I feel that this movie is excellent.I watch a lot of Gay dramas and have to say that this one is uniquely different which is what gave it a lot of appeal to me and I'm looking forward to reading the book.

The direction was exquisite in portraying the allure of the initial phases of attraction. With the skillful editing and the above-average to beautiful cinematography, the movie had a well-paced, rich, atmospheric delivery. The director, James Bolton, handled the actors deftly. Bolton carefully spent enough time on the characters to let us know the possible layers of meaning of the way they gaze at each other. The two leads were quite effective. Stephen Bender especially provided an intriguing aura to the character. Diana Scarwid and Thomas Jay Ryan were remarkable in their few scenes. Even Randy Wayne, Owen Beckman, and Rooney Mara delivered.The soundtrack was good but had mixed applications. At the music's best, it delivered subtle meaningful tonal contrasts. At its worst, it was obtrusive and distracting.I haven't read the book, so I'm judging the screenplay on its own. A gay growing-up story has been told over and over again ad nauseam. This movie had all the clichés. What was interesting was the surreal shift with the potential for multilayered interpretations. Not everyone will like this. Personally, this makes me want to read the book. I was satisfied enough with the delivery of this aspect, but I agree it could have been better. The ending was a unique and thought-provoking way of escaping gay media triteness.

Shy teenager Nathan (Stephen Bender) moves into the deep South with his parents. Right next door to him is teenager Roy (Max Roeg) who is out-going and friendly. They form a friendship which quickly turns into a physical relationship. Naturally they can't tell anybody. Half way through things about Nathan become clearer--and more disturbing--and the movie gets dark.I read the book years ago and loved it but I hated the ending cause it's so ambiguous. I bought this movie cautiously because I didn't think it could be as good as the book and I was curious HOW they would end it. Well the movie IS as good as the book. It's low-key but the book was too. Bender and Roeg perfectly play two teenage boys in love--you can see the confusion and passion in their faces. The sex scenes are very tastefully done (nothing remotely graphic) and these two are so obviously not teens it's not disturbing to watch. I also like how their kissing and having sex is treated so casually--as it should. It (sort of) retains the ambiguous ending of the book. Like I said I hated that ending but I'm glad the movie didn't change it. All the acting is good--Roeg especially. He has the wonderful actress Theresa Russell as his mom and obviously inherited her acting abilities. There's some beautiful cinematography and a good music score too. Low-key and somewhat disturbing but effective. I give it a 7.

I read the book, and felt it was slow and boring except for certain parts. So when I heard that there was a movie, I was happy. As I was watching the movie I was getting a better feeling than reading the book, I feel there should have been more on the interactions with the father, and the music was kind of annoying, But as a whole it was turning out to be a decent film...Until the "director" tried to be all artsy and suspenseful and ruined the climax ending. The kid was getting rapped, and you have this yuppie music come on like it was just another scene. There's a conversation before or after the attack but of course the horrible "director" though it would be a good idea to turn the music on to were you can only understand mumbles. The acting was OK. The only person that really looked out of place was the kid playing Roy. That's only because he was shorter than the other cast of boys. I think Randy Wayne (who plays Burke in the movie) would have been a better choice for the character Roy. This movie would have been so much better had the "director" focused more on the darker side of things, and knew just a little about using music in scenes.