Tadpole

Rating:
Summary: "We're all adults here."
Review: Oscar ("Tadpole") is a 15-year-old who attends an elite boarding school. Oscar comes home for the Thanksgiving holidays to his father, history professor Stanley Grubman (John Ritter) and stepmother, Eve (Sigourney Weaver). Oscar doesn't relate to girls of his own age--as a matter of fact, he has a giant, secret crush on his stepmother. That doesn't stop Oscar from getting involved with one of Eve's best friends--chiropractor Diane Lodder (Bebe Neuwirth).

I had many problems with this film. For a start, the filming technique seems very amateurish. Also, the main character, Oscar is an obnoxious snotty know-it-all. Apparently we are supposed to believe that professional women in New York are ready to drop their knickers for him--of course, Diane's boyfriend is portrayed, deliberately, as a boring, mundane type, and this is supposed to explain her attraction to Oscar. Now if the character of Oscar was a 15-year-old girl--pursued by aggressive 40-year-old men, then the implications would be different indeed. All the 'adults' in the film (with the exception of Eve) just shrug away Oscar's fling with Diane. The serious aspects of a 15-year-old becoming intimately involved with a woman in her 40s were not addressed. This made an already problematic film superficial and supercilious into the bargain.

Bebe Neuwirth saved this film from being a complete disaster. Her scenes were interesting and entertaining, and while she was in a scene, the film seemed to spring to life. But even her role was seriously undermined by her preposterous relationship with Oscar. Oscar is an annoying little twit. We are supposed to believe that he can successfully pass himself off as an adult in a bar, and yet this is the same individual who glues fake sideboards onto his face. The film was touted as a comedy. I did not find it funny in the least--boring, preposterous, and mindless are the words that spring to mind--displacedhuman

Rating:
Summary: "We're all adults here."
Review: Oscar ("Tadpole") is a 15-year-old who attends an elite boarding school. Oscar comes home for the Thanksgiving holidays to his father, history professor Stanley Grubman (John Ritter) and stepmother, Eve (Sigourney Weaver). Oscar doesn't relate to girls of his own age--as a matter of fact, he has a giant, secret crush on his stepmother. That doesn't stop Oscar from getting involved with one of Eve's best friends--chiropractor Diane Lodder (Bebe Neuwirth).

I had many problems with this film. For a start, the filming technique seems very amateurish. Also, the main character, Oscar is an obnoxious snotty know-it-all. Apparently we are supposed to believe that professional women in New York are ready to drop their knickers for him--of course, Diane's boyfriend is portrayed, deliberately, as a boring, mundane type, and this is supposed to explain her attraction to Oscar. Now if the character of Oscar was a 15-year-old girl--pursued by aggressive 40-year-old men, then the implications would be different indeed. All the 'adults' in the film (with the exception of Eve) just shrug away Oscar's fling with Diane. The serious aspects of a 15-year-old becoming intimately involved with a woman in her 40s were not addressed. This made an already problematic film superficial and supercilious into the bargain.

Bebe Neuwirth saved this film from being a complete disaster. Her scenes were interesting and entertaining, and while she was in a scene, the film seemed to spring to life. But even her role was seriously undermined by her preposterous relationship with Oscar. Oscar is an annoying little twit. We are supposed to believe that he can successfully pass himself off as an adult in a bar, and yet this is the same individual who glues fake sideboards onto his face. The film was touted as a comedy. I did not find it funny in the least--boring, preposterous, and mindless are the words that spring to mind--displacedhuman

Rating:
Summary: Lusciously Delicate Coming of Age Film...
Review: Oscar Grubman (Aaron Stanford) arrives in New York City by train as he has a short vacation from Chauncey Academy where he attends high school. Oscar is to celebrate Thanksgiving with his father Stanley (John Ritter) and stepmother Eve (Sigourney Weaver), but it is about to be a peculiar experience for Oscar since he has fallen deeply in love with his stepmother. The love that Oscar has for Eve causes friction between him and his dad who attempts to make it an enjoyable break for his son. By a coincidence Oscar ends up in bed with Eve's best friend Diane (Bebe Neuwirth), which causes some additional awkwardness for Oscar as he spends his break in New York. Tadpole is an excellent drama about coming of age and the youthful discovery of love that can sometimes be misunderstood. The story unfolds with remarkable ease as it displays the misfortunes and tragedies that can be connected with love, leaving the audience with a brilliant cinematic experience.

Rating:
Summary: Lusciously Delicate Coming of Age Film...
Review: Oscar Grubman (Aaron Stanford) arrives in New York City by train as he has a short vacation from Chauncey Academy where he attends high school. Oscar is to celebrate Thanksgiving with his father Stanley (John Ritter) and stepmother Eve (Sigourney Weaver), but it is about to be a peculiar experience for Oscar since he has fallen deeply in love with his stepmother. The love that Oscar has for Eve causes friction between him and his dad who attempts to make it an enjoyable break for his son. By a coincidence Oscar ends up in bed with Eve's best friend Diane (Bebe Neuwirth), which causes some additional awkwardness for Oscar as he spends his break in New York. Tadpole is an excellent drama about coming of age and the youthful discovery of love that can sometimes be misunderstood. The story unfolds with remarkable ease as it displays the misfortunes and tragedies that can be connected with love, leaving the audience with a brilliant cinematic experience.

Rating:
Summary: Charming and Out of the Ordinary
Review: Oscar is a young man with a problem. Mature beyond his fifteen years, he's enthralled with his stepmother Eve (subtlety played by Sigourney Weaver). He dreams of long philosophical talks and more with her, while rejecting the more appropriate options of the girls his own age. While his obsession goes unnoticed by his father (John Ritter) and Eve, his latent charms do attract the attention of Sigourney's best friend (the ever-so-sultry Bebe Newirth), who is more than happy to seduce and exploit the young innocent.

If you haven't spotted the conundrum behind all of this, let me spell it out more distinctly. How can a responsible adult (a classification that probably excludes me) enjoy a movie built on the premise of a forty year old seducing a fifteen year old? If the adult were a man and the teenager was female, there would have been a ton of protests about the exploitation and lack of consequences. It's a reverse Lolita. But despite that critical flaw, Tadpole is an extremely literate movie. The dialogue could have been written by Noel Coward, the cast is polished and the pacing is near-perfect.

In one hilarious scene, Oscar is about to exit Bebe's apartment after their overnight encounter. But he encounters her boyfriend who immediately assumes that Oscar is one of her chiropractic patients. Remarks like "doesn't she just turn you inside/out?" are delivered with therapeutic concern but received as being sexual inquisition, resulting in one very confused teenager, until he realizes that the friend is completely unaware of what had transpired over the last few hours.

I can't help but wonder if the subject matter caused one or two scenes to be left on the cutting room floor, as the movie is incredibly short by today's standards. But if that is the case, it was a justifiable decision as Tadpole overcomes some substantial moral concerns to deliver a charming story.

Rating:
Summary: Very funny; absolutely loved it.
Review: Summary:
Oscar Grubman (Aaron Stanford) is a 15-year old high school sophomore who is deeply interested in literature and has lately been reading Voltaire. Perhaps in conjunction with or more likely as a result, Oscar has developed a very deep romantic and sexual interest for older women and one woman in particular, his stepmother, Eve Grubman (Sigourney Weaver). When Oscar comes homes for Thanksgiving with his father and stepmother, Oscar has committed himself to break the news to Eve. Before he gets a chance, he gets drunk and, imagining Eve's best friend, Diane Lodder (Bebe Neuwirth), to be Eve because she is wearing Eve's scarf, Oscar has sex with her. Perhaps it wouldn't be a problem except, remember, Oscar is 15 and Diane is over 40 and Eve's best friend. Now Oscar has to convince his dad, Stanley Grubman (John Ritter), that he is a normal 15 year-old and also explain to Eve why he slept with her best friend when he actually wanted to be sleeping with her.

My Comments:
I don't know that my summary did the movie justice. I think I may have made it out to be more malicious than humorous and if that's the case, then you'll just have to see this movie to understand how what might be a seen as disturbing situation is actually a very funny comedy.

The story is superb and the acting is pretty good overall. Bebe Neuwirth and Aaron Stanford are very convincing and Sigourney Weaver is only slightly less so. The only problems with this movie, and I hate to make this criticism because I really do advocate a change from film to digital, are the picture quality and the cinematography. I'm guessing the movie was filmed using lower quality digital cameras. The cameras have a hard time focusing at times and a lot of quick motion turns into blurred motion. I believe digital is the way of the future, but perhaps the technology for anyone to make a major motion picture using their Circuit City bought digital camera isn't quite there yet.

Despite the picture problems, the movie is loads of fun and lots of laughs. I should also point out that young men sleeping with much older women, in case you haven't already realized this, is going to be very disturbing to some people. Well, if you find it very, very disturbing, you may want to skip this one. If you think you can look past that to be entertained by a very enjoyable movie, then you should definitely see this film.

Rating:
Summary: Encore!
Review: Tadpole compares favorably to Whit Stillman's work. That should be recommendation enough, but if you need any more reason to check this film out, look at the cast. Neuwirth and the young Stanford are outstanding, Ritter (seemingly delighted to be playing a mature part) and Weaver each give admirable performances (though I had a hard time overcoming Weaver's immediate recognizability as the heroine from the Alien films). If you're familiar with Stillman's work (Barcelona, etc), then imagine less over-the-top verbiage, and also relishing the silent moments a bit more. I'm not sure who is responsible for making Tadpole such a nice film but I'll want to follow both the writers and the director to see what they continue on to; I expect you will also.

Rating:
Summary: TADPOLE IS NO IGBY
Review: TADPOLE is a nick-name for 15 year-old Oscar Grubman (Aaron Stanford), who pines incessantly for his stepmother (Sigourny Weaver).

Over Thanksgiving break, Oscar comes to Manhatten, drinks heavily, and ends up in bed with his stepmom's best friend Diane (a scene stealing Bebe Neuwirth). Oscar takes up a lot of the remaining film trying to convince Diane not to tell his stepmom.

Tadpole's main problem is Aaron Stanford, who not only looks too old to be a high school sophomore but plays Oscar as very gay while still trying to be a ladies' man. Gender confusion might be a worthy subject for a black comedy, but that's not the issue here.

Too bad Tadpole didn't run into Igby, another pretentious spoiled but charmingly demented teen in Manhatten on school break. He could learn a few things. Disappointing.

Rating:
Summary: Digital Video
Review: Tadpole Was Shot On A Sony PD150(PAL) And Is A Great Film To Study If you are a filmmaker like me. because i own a pd150(NTSC) i saw that you can make funny and cinematic films in DV. I Love This Movie For DV Studying.

Rating:
Summary: Why PAL standard DV sucks!
Review: The reason this badly written and over-rated non-film looks
SO bad is not because it was merely shot on DV but because there is a stupid and very poorly informed cult among certain indie American filmmakers who think it is better to use a PAL standard DV camera than an NTSC one.

While it is true that at the bottom end of DV a PAL camera will give more luminance and transfer to film stock for theatres slightly better it is equally true that using PAL that runs at
50hz is a far bigger disaster for both Region 1 & Region All
DVD which runs at 60hz. Furthermore PAL has far less cinematic colour over NTSC and the makers of this DV movie lit and shot using PAL in an awful and uninformed manner.

For any budding indie digital movie makers out there who cannot afford HD check out the PANASONIC AJSDX900 camera system a DVCPRO format camera that can do component video at 50 megabits per second in 24fps and 16:9 ratio in good old 60hz!! Forget about PAL.

The evidence that PAL is a mistaken option is very much proven here. After all what is more important how a movie looks in theatres for one month or how it looks on DVD for ten years?

Howard S Marks
Manchester UK.

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