APT PUPIL RATING: 6 / 10 --> Barely recommendable
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PLOT: A teenager discovers one of his neighbors to be an ex-Nazi from the World War II death camps, and blackmails the man into telling him all about the atrocities that he committed.
CRITIQUE: It seemed as though the premise of this film had a certain amount of promise, but the film lacks any real suspense or action, doesn't provide us with any real sympathetic characters to care about, but does offer some excellent acting performances by the main leads, Ian McKellen and Brad Renfro. The one thing they never really explain in this film, which surely lightened my intensity for it, was WHY the teenage kid wanted to hear all those awful stories? Did he get off on it? Was he as sick as the Nazi man himself? We are asked to commit to his plight solely on the fact that the kid is interested in the subject. I for one, would have liked a better background construction for the teenager, so that I could have appreciated his character on another level. As it was, I disliked his character even more than the ex-Nazi, and never really cared about the story, which didn't provide for any real tension, save for the tacked on "incident" which occurs near the end. And what's with all the homosexual undertones? Right over my head. You know something strange is going on in a film review, when I actually praise David Schwimmer for his role as well. Forgive me, father.
See it if the subject matter interests you, you like director Bryan Singer's style, or you want to see some great acting performances from the two leads, otherwise there is no real reason to see this movie. For a much better story, greater performances and stronger characters, rent AMERICAN HISTORY X (8.5/10) instead.
Little Known Facts about this film and its stars: The novel by Stephen King has a much darker ending. The Brad Renfro character of Todd goes mad and starts shooting innocent people on a highway! It is also to note that Todd's high school mascot (the Pirates) and school colors (green and gold) are the same as director Bryan Singer's old high school. Also, the number on Todd's varsity jacket (85) is the year Bryan graduated. The first attempt to film this story in 1987 ran over budget and was stopped. It starred Rick Schroeder and Nicol Williamson, and was directed by Alan Bridges. In real-life, actor Ian McKellen has been very frank about his preference of the company of men to women. He is one of the few openly gay actors in Hollywood. The release of this movie was delayed for almost a year. It was in major turmoil over a shower scene in the film that supposedly featured nude underage males. It took about a year to clear everything up until it was eventually released. Director Bryan Singer graduated from USC cinema school in 1989, and has named his production company, Bad Hat Harry Productions, after a line from JAWS, one of his favorite movies. Brad Renfro made his motion picture debut in the 1994 Joel Schumacher film THE CLIENT opposite Susan Sarandon. He played the main lead kid. Before that, he had acted in school productions, and was discovered in a national talent search at the age of 10. In 1998, he was arrested for possession of marijuana and cocaine. Es tu another Robert Downey Jr. in wait? This film was originally titled GOLDEN BOY.
Review Date: August 8, 1999
Director: Bryan Singer
Writer: Brandon Boyce (based on a novella by Stephen King)
Producers: Jane Hamsher, Don Murphy and Bryan Singer
Actors: Ian McKellen as Kurt Dussander
Brad Renfro as Todd Bowen
Genre: Drama
Year of Release: 1998
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(c) 1999 Berge Garabedian
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