On first viewing, I thought this movie was okay. Rain Phoenix was excellent, and the guys (Bryce Johnson and Cole Williams) were nice to look at. But then I started thinking *way* too much on things.
This movie disturbed me. Not, as one might think, because of the incest, but because of the way the writer(s) handled Harry's character. There never seems to be any addressing of it, so I'm not sure what, exactly, was intended. But Harry spends the *entire movie* trying to destroy his brother. Foremost, he tells Nikki (Phoenix) and the yoga instructor about him and Max, supposedly out of jealousy/curiosity/protectiveness. As a followup, Harry terrorizes his mother and, for no explainable reason, ruins Max's previously decent relationship with her. And the only motive we are hit over the head with is that Harry is a drunk, so this is just what drunk, unfortunate child celebrities do. OKAY. Perhaps, though, this all *does* fit into the self-destructive excuse. Because, if you think about it, when Harry looks at Max, all he is really seeing is himself minus seven years. He thinks that he he can fix himself if he "fixes" Max, when really, because he *is* self-destructive, he is unwittingly destroying Max.
Like I said, though, none of this is acknowledged. That is bothersome enough, but the worst of it is that the entire *incest* issue is basically unaddressed. It starts out moving enough with Max's perspective on it, but when Harry becomes more of the focal point, everything gets jumbled. *Now* it is only about love, and it is treated like a romance film with jealousy and psychotic tendencies. Max is appalled by the situation, but NOT because Harry is his brother. The same seems to go for Nikki and the yoga instructor - they're disgusted because of how Harry conducts himself, but *not* because he is lusting after his *sixteen-year-old brother.* So there is an elephant on one side of the room, an eight-foot purple polka-dotted penguin on the other, and the writer decided to aim at the shabbily-painted wall instead.
I give this movie a 5/10, because it does try to do SOMETHING, I just can't quite point out WHAT.
This movie disturbed me. Not, as one might think, because of the incest, but because of the way the writer(s) handled Harry's character. There never seems to be any addressing of it, so I'm not sure what, exactly, was intended. But Harry spends the *entire movie* trying to destroy his brother. Foremost, he tells Nikki (Phoenix) and the yoga instructor about him and Max, supposedly out of jealousy/curiosity/protectiveness. As a followup, Harry terrorizes his mother and, for no explainable reason, ruins Max's previously decent relationship with her. And the only motive we are hit over the head with is that Harry is a drunk, so this is just what drunk, unfortunate child celebrities do. OKAY. Perhaps, though, this all *does* fit into the self-destructive excuse. Because, if you think about it, when Harry looks at Max, all he is really seeing is himself minus seven years. He thinks that he he can fix himself if he "fixes" Max, when really, because he *is* self-destructive, he is unwittingly destroying Max.
Like I said, though, none of this is acknowledged. That is bothersome enough, but the worst of it is that the entire *incest* issue is basically unaddressed. It starts out moving enough with Max's perspective on it, but when Harry becomes more of the focal point, everything gets jumbled. *Now* it is only about love, and it is treated like a romance film with jealousy and psychotic tendencies. Max is appalled by the situation, but NOT because Harry is his brother. The same seems to go for Nikki and the yoga instructor - they're disgusted because of how Harry conducts himself, but *not* because he is lusting after his *sixteen-year-old brother.* So there is an elephant on one side of the room, an eight-foot purple polka-dotted penguin on the other, and the writer decided to aim at the shabbily-painted wall instead.
I give this movie a 5/10, because it does try to do SOMETHING, I just can't quite point out WHAT.