L.I.E.

Rating:
Summary: All the light and dark of the heart
Review: It is not surprising to me that viewers are so quick to bandy labels around while discussing L.I.E.. Pigeonholes make matters of the heart that are otherwise complicated and hazy, easy to deal with for those who hate to think or be challenged. If that's what the creators of this excellent film wanted to do, they would've issued out black and white cowboy hats to the actors.

But this movie is not simplistic. Listening to the commentaries by both the director, Michael Cuesta, and Brian Cox (Big John), I noticed that neither ever utters the word "pedophile" in relation to Big John (In fact, the film itself shows he not only desires young teenagers, but young, adult men of 18-21 range, and women as well). Nor do they peg Howie as a "gay youth"--in fact, they both deny that Howie's sexual identity is set. That's because L.I.E. is not about categories, it is about the complexities of the human heart that lie beneath the surface.

For myself, L.I.E. is about two things: (1) discovering the difference between love and lust, and (2) the fundamental condition of human loneliness and our search for honest intimacy. After the recent death of his mother, Howie has just discovered deep loneliness and is trying to resolve it as fast as he can; running away to California for adventure with a rebellious, sexy friend seems like the magic pill/instant cure for all his problems. As for Big John, years before the time of this film he decided to quench his loneliness in shallow sex with males of various ages, and in creating broad yet shallow relationships with the prominent members of his community. Yet he's never allowed anyone to get inside and really touch his heart, apparently not even his current adult lover/roommate.

Suddenly, Howie is confronted with this man, who unlike Howie's father or friends, has answers to his questions about his worth and place in the world (and also knowledge of sex, which is a big part of life for a teenager). Simultaneously, the once-"Big" John is rendered small and weak in the face of the quiet grandeur and adolescent vulnerability of Howie's gentle, honest nature. For a moment, their lives intersect and neither of them knows quite what to do...both are in foreign territory, and both walk away with something they never had before. Howie walks away with the knowledge of his own value as a human being (hence, he's able to assert himself in confrontation with his father later in the film, and proclaim himself to the world), and John walks away knowing that he's made a permanent and vital difference in the life of another person, and that he's finally loved someone else, truly and completely.

This film should not be missed, misunderstood or pigeonholed and forgotten. It is a boundary-breaker that speaks of the need for love and intimacy that lies most deeply in the human soul, regardless of superficial appearances.

Rating:
Summary: Extraordinary!
Review: This is an awesomely well-made movie, from the acting to the writing to the cinematography - it has a reality & honesty that are very rare in American films - and it's also funny and compassionate. Brian Cox's performance has to be one of the acting pinnacles of film history. I hate to praise one actor by knocking others, but I automatically thought of two better-known actors who might have been cast as Big John but thankfully weren't: Albert Finney & Anthony Hopkins. Both would have fit well but both would have overshadowed the character. Big John as he is written & played in this film is one of the most complex & honest human beings I've ever seen in an American movie. Paul Franklin Dano is every bit as impressive as Howie showing extraordinary sensitivity & range. Both Dano & Cox should have won every major acting award of the year (if there was any justice in that industry). Michael Cuesta has made a truly extraordinary film, one that I'm sure will become a classic over time.

Rating:
Summary: A Wake Up Call to Parents!
Review: I had heard the director interviewed about this film and his main point was this is what can happen when parents ignore their children. Howie is obviously morning his mother's death and his father is a pathetic role model and makes very week attempts to console his son. So who does he turn to, the local school punk and a dirty old man that happens to know him intimately!!!
As for some other reviews I'm so tired of comments like "its to disturbing" or "I can't handle the subject matter". These movie
viewers should just go back to Peter Pan and Snow White where there's always a simple happy milk toast ending. I appreciated being told a story without having moralizing statements inserted. While Big John appears to be very creepy on the other hand he seems to be the only person really interested in Howie's well being but on the other hand he treats his live in lover Scott with a complete lack of courtesy and love. So fathers and sons out there sit down and view this movie with an open mind and come back and talk about the themes explored. It could be the start of a real father and son discussion about the meaning of life, and Dad if you don't love him someone else will!

Rating:
Summary: NC-17 an Unfortunate Rating
Review: It is unfortunate that this compelling, insightful movie received a rating which is basically a kiss of death to a movie's success. This movie is an excellent look at a very dark problem, one which has made the news a lot lately, pedophilia. It in NO way glorifies that problem, but explores it in a realistic way. Paul Franklin Dano is believable as a troubled, but intelligent, kid, and Brian Cox is superb as the pedophile who finds something better to search for in his relationship with the boy. By making the pedophile more human, and not just a monster, the audience is forced to admit that a pedophile could be anybody, not just someone who might "look like" one. This is an intelligent coming of age story, an expose on many of the problems inherent when the family structure is either broken or threatened. Finally, I think it exposes how a pedophile can gain access to a young person- they may indeed fill a need the child is missing at home. I think that's a wake up call to parents to spend more time with their kids, listen to them, and love them, no matter how difficult they may be.

Rating:
Summary: Extraordinary!
Review: This is an awesomely well-made movie, from the acting to the writing to the cinematography - it has a reality & honesty that are very rare in American films - and it's also funny and compassionate. Brian Cox's performance has to be one of the acting pinnacles of film history. I hate to praise one actor by knocking others, but I automatically thought of two better-known actors who might have been cast as Big John but thankfully weren't: Albert Finney & Anthony Hopkins. Both would have fit well but both would have overshadowed the character. Big John as he is written & played in this film is one of the most complex & honest human beings I've ever seen in an American movie. Paul Franklin Dano is every bit as impressive as Howie showing extraordinary sensitivity & range. Both Dano & Cox should have won every major acting award of the year (if there was any justice in that industry). Michael Cuesta has made a truly extraordinary film, one that I'm sure will become a classic over time.

Rating:
Summary: Viewer
Review: A beautiful, painfully honest and extremely controversial film that depicts a pedophile as a sometimes caring and loving father figure. The scene where Brian Cox shows the young boy how to shave is so filled with both paternal love and twisted sexuality that I can not get it out of my mind. How many kids even have a father figure in their homes today? How many young boys resort to drugs, violence, risky sexual habits from lack of parental love, care and supervison?
Can a pedophile fill the void of an absent father?
All of you who would rather go out drinking, spend the whole weekend in front of the TV, I sincerely hope you will make time to watch this movie.

Rating:
Summary: A beautiful film about ugliness
Review: This is a beautifully constructed movie. The overt nature of sexuality in the film was overdone, perhaps, but in nearly every instance it seems necessary to the film's integrity. This is a movie about beauty and ugliness - but not just physical beauty, and not just physical ugliness. It is a movie about the aesthetic disposition of the soul, whether or not the soul dares to maintain a challenging and precarious beauty in a brutally ugly world.

Promotional materials for L.I.E. intimate that the movie breaks "the last taboo" of Western culture. I found this claim particularly appropriate for such this film, as the film explores the concept of "taboo" in a powerful and convincing way.

This taboo is, of course, pedophilia. It is fascinating how cliché of a figure Big John is at the beginning of the film - an overt appeal by the filmmakers to summon up the viewer's most terrible mental images. But L.I.E. turns this cliché on its head, by demonstrating that this archetypal monster is actually a real human being, with real needs, real humor, real problems, and (God forbid!) a real mother. And anyone who has a sweet old mother, of course, cannot be all bad.

Indeed, Big John isn't all bad. And indeed, Howie isn't all good. In the case of Howie, the writers strike upon another much needed insight into our society: kids aren't built perfect. There is no magic in childhood that gives one the ability to distinguish good from evil, love from hate, life from death. Howie becomes disillusioned about peer friendships, about parental relationships, about sex, and about trust.

And into this situation of Howie's profound disaffectedness, Mr. Pedophile enters. He wants one thing - Howie's body. This is his personal form of evil. But, unpredictably, almost inexplicably, Big John does not act as a further source of disillusionment for Howie. In what seems to be an almost Herculean act of self-control, Big John is the first person to show Howie what it actually means to love - that is, to look out for another person's interests, even at the expense of one's own desires.

The conclusion of this movie points to a major missing component in the modern age: mentoring relationships. Mentoring, in the Greek concept, is meant to foster virtue. In Ancient Greece, intergenerational relationships were given a place in the culture; not for their sexual content, but for their moral content. There is no better moral teacher than the disciplined lover - not in Greece, and not today. The fact that Big John breaks the pattern of his life, and resists the easy indulgence of the moment, is the first real life lesson that poor Howie learns in this movie. The viewer is left hoping that it will not be the last.

Rating:
Summary: Great movie with a message
Review: L.I.E. ( long island expressway) tells the storys of a 15 year old boy named Howie who is troubled over his mother's recent death and it starts out with him on the long island expressway where his mother died standing above expressway looking down on all the cars and having flashbacks of his mother. Since his mother died he lives alone with his father( who has little time for his son) and basically emotionally neglects Howie. Soon Howie starts hanging out with the wrong crowd and starts robbing houses with his delinquent friends. One day while robbing a house he gets caught and his friends get away. The person who catches him is a ex-marine named Big John- who is also a pedophile. Big john makes a deal with howie , if he spends time with him he wont say anything/ big john also comes to the jail to pick up howie after getting in trouble- soon they develop a friendship and big john (...) is there for howie when his father isnt. Big john never harms howie but instead develops a friendship with him and howie soon learns secret that binds his friend to big john. The ending is intense and i highly recomend this film.

Rating:
Summary: What can I say?
Review: L.I.E. is the controvercial film that centers around a 15 year old boy and the relationship that he has with a 55 year old man, named Big John.

What can I say? I watched the movie, I understood the movie, but wasn't too sure about it. I gave the film 3 stars (out of 5) but it's more like a 3.5/5.

Paul Dano gives a good performance as the main character Howie, and all I can say is that he can act. He carries the film with such angst and confusion that I just wish he could've carried it through the film more, because at some parts Dano's performance lost me. At first I was into his presentation, but then I would be lost; but a few scenes later I would be back again. It didn't feel consistent. But he carries himself well in critical scenes with Brian Cox and Bruce Altman (Howie's father, in a scene at the very end that will really show Dano's acting abilities in the film)

On the other hand, the supporting character of Garry, who is Howie's friend, (played by Billy Kay) was wonderful! He fit the role and acted very well. It was too bad that he was only in half of the movie.

The scene stealer was truly Brian Cox. His performance is great. He's creepy, weird and charismatic all at the same time. What can I say, really? Cox is amazing! (in anything he does)

Overall, the NC-17 rating that this film got was really not neccessary, because nothing explicit really happens in the film, it was just mostly because of it's subject matter. But, check L.I.E. out and hopefully you'll get something out of it.

Rating:
Summary: The Kids Are Alright
Review: "L.I.E." is the first movie from film-maker Michael Cuesta, who directed some episodes of the cult tv-series "Six Fet Under". The plot centers around an american teen, Howie (Paul Dano), who faces some problems with his friends and family, realising that he is, in fact, alone and vulnerable and can only count on himself. As the story unfolds, Howie`s situation gets more desperate and dramatic as he becomes closer to an old man, Big John, an ex-marine and pedophile (Brian Cox). Cuesta wisely avoids cliches and easy moralism, looking beneath the surface and giving space for his complex characters to grow. He also doesn't go for the predictable shock-value plot whose only proposite it to scandalize the audience. Instead, the movie offers a realistic, ambiguous and deep look at this relationship, leading to a strong, emotional and gritty experience.
"L.I.E." is a powerful study on male adolescence and sexuality, focusing the despair and sense of danger of a teen whose limits and norms are dubious and unclear. Michael Cuesta`s first directional debut is a fresh, gutsy movie than proves the strenght of american independent cinema. A keeper.