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@e.r.f.g_films
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This movie was sitting in my watch list for years before I finally watched it, and it really deserved my full attention. Upon watching the trailer you are lead to believe it is a film about UFOs and alien abduction, but 5 minutes into the movie you can tell it has a much deeper meaning than that. The film tackles some of the hardest subjects. We follow two boys, Neil (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and Brian (Brady Corbet), who are polar opposites of each other.
Gordon-Levitt’s character is fascinating to watch. For 2004 we are seeing an openly queer character, who does not follow the “stereotypes”. He is not the “gay best friend” trope, nor is he is not dealing with the struggles of “coming out”. Levitt gives an amazing performance, hard to think a few years prior he was playing a nerdy high schooler in “10 Things I Hate About You”. He constantly proves himself as a versatile actor. And we must of course mention Corbet’s performance. I think he gives a heart-wrenching performance, his delivery is delicate and effective and truly fits his character.
There are multiple scenes in this film that are very difficult to watch. They do not shy away from the tough subjects, in fact there are layers of issues they touch upon. Childhood trauma, child abuse and rape just to name a few. And the film makers were not afraid to go into detail, making it a really uncomfortable watch. The realism is something I was not expecting from a film that advertised about UFOs and alien abduction in the trailer. However this metaphor for childhood trauma and how one deals with it in different ways is very clever. In fact that idea alone could have carried the movie. A boy struggling with reality, believing that he was taken by aliens as a child, but instead it was his mind protecting him from the truth. But on top of this we have Neil’s character, and we follow a different plot line all together, of him using his body to deal with what happened to him, which needless to say gets him into some trouble. We have two juxtaposing characters, with two different coping methods, both brought together by the same trauma. We are somewhat spoiled, it is like two perfectly good movies in one.
This is definitely a “parking lot movie”, a film that once I had finished watching I immediately asked my friend to watch it, just so I could have someone to talk to about it.
It is a tough watch, but the performances are beautiful and I would definitely watch this film again.
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