I saw this film recently at the Cork Film Festival and really enjoyed it. Director/writer David Bezmozgis takes a slightly darker look than usual at the familiar teenage/high school drama.
The story is set in 1988 suburban Toronto and is about Ben, a promising ice hockey player. He meets one of his teammates at a concert and lends him money to buy drugs. His teammate then disappears. Initially he tells nobody what he has done but then finds himself getting closer to the missing boys sister as the authorities search for her brother. We see the effect this has on the basically decent teenager as he wrestles with his conscience. At home his parents are Russian immigrants and speak Russian at home. I believe this is similar to the director's own youth. His mother wants him to keep up his good grades while his father hopes he can get a college hockey scholarship. He also does the usual high school things such as going to parties and playing war games with his nerdy friends.
The acting is pretty good, especially from Jeff Pustil as the missing boys father and Sergiy Kotelenets as the hockey player's father, anxious that his son take the opportunities that he wasted in his own youth. The performance of the younger actors is a bit mixed but Mark Rendall does well in the main role.
Thankfully the film doesn't have a "Hollywood" style neat ending. Definitely a promising film from a young filmmaker.
The story is set in 1988 suburban Toronto and is about Ben, a promising ice hockey player. He meets one of his teammates at a concert and lends him money to buy drugs. His teammate then disappears. Initially he tells nobody what he has done but then finds himself getting closer to the missing boys sister as the authorities search for her brother. We see the effect this has on the basically decent teenager as he wrestles with his conscience. At home his parents are Russian immigrants and speak Russian at home. I believe this is similar to the director's own youth. His mother wants him to keep up his good grades while his father hopes he can get a college hockey scholarship. He also does the usual high school things such as going to parties and playing war games with his nerdy friends.
The acting is pretty good, especially from Jeff Pustil as the missing boys father and Sergiy Kotelenets as the hockey player's father, anxious that his son take the opportunities that he wasted in his own youth. The performance of the younger actors is a bit mixed but Mark Rendall does well in the main role.
Thankfully the film doesn't have a "Hollywood" style neat ending. Definitely a promising film from a young filmmaker.