A mother protects her sickened boy from the outside world, but when a young girl befriends him she uncovers some uncomfortable truths.
The Harvest has some strong moments, the acting is note worthy, the characters are believable and seem game for the ride. The direction is well handled, making the most of a strong premise, but where it falls slightly short is in its central focus on the children as the core of the movie. Without giving too much away, there is an element of children taking the role of adults in this movie, whereas the premise is deserving of a more mature and complex handling of the emotional twists. The message being relayed by the movie here is that children are in control of their own fate, but there is a bigger story in the foreground concerning parental abuse, parenthood, bereavement and identity, which is side swept entirely for a more child view of right and wrong, which I believe does not do the movie full justice.
McNaughton has directed some classy movies in his years and I was surprised to see his name appear in the credits, but not overly surprised. He has a deft hand with directing movies that come at the audience from left field, never really fitting a genre, and accomplished in his ability to tease a good performance out of his leads. This he does well in The Harvest, but there is a feeling the darker elements of the story has been watered down. On a final note, that's Peter Fonda playing the Grandpa...yes...THAT guy.
The Harvest has some strong moments, the acting is note worthy, the characters are believable and seem game for the ride. The direction is well handled, making the most of a strong premise, but where it falls slightly short is in its central focus on the children as the core of the movie. Without giving too much away, there is an element of children taking the role of adults in this movie, whereas the premise is deserving of a more mature and complex handling of the emotional twists. The message being relayed by the movie here is that children are in control of their own fate, but there is a bigger story in the foreground concerning parental abuse, parenthood, bereavement and identity, which is side swept entirely for a more child view of right and wrong, which I believe does not do the movie full justice.
McNaughton has directed some classy movies in his years and I was surprised to see his name appear in the credits, but not overly surprised. He has a deft hand with directing movies that come at the audience from left field, never really fitting a genre, and accomplished in his ability to tease a good performance out of his leads. This he does well in The Harvest, but there is a feeling the darker elements of the story has been watered down. On a final note, that's Peter Fonda playing the Grandpa...yes...THAT guy.