As far as gay themed movies go, for the most part this is a beautiful and endearing love story handled with tenderness and all together quite amazingly done. The two leads are fantastic, the pacing, script, music and photography is outstanding. It has a rather American Beauty feel about it. About half way through it is obvious Nathan is hiding a torrid secret which could have been explored further, tackling a great social issue. This movie could have could have taken this theme and launched into being one of the best gay films of the decade. BUT, then it takes a predictable, boring and lazy path which made me VERY angry. I guess you see it coming but why oh why do so many American gay themed films have to kill off the innocent gay kid in a traumatic and horrid way. Is this some kind of recompense to get the film made? Financed? Some kind of self loathing from a writer director who needs to justify making a gay themed filmed? I am so bloody angry that this has once again occurred when blind Freddy could have taken the last 20 minutes and helped Nathan out of his shitty life and into love and light. But no, he has to be raped and beaten to death. What does this achieve for gods sake? I am very bloody angry about this.

I thought this movie showed promise and had quite a high rating so i gave it a shot. I actually want my time back! Not to mention my innocence. I understand that not every story can be a happy one, but why would anyone want to tell this story? A novel adapted into a film and to be honest, it was a mess! The story seemed disjointed and random, the camping and ghost stories part was just random overload. The movie deals with extremely dark subject matter so to call this film a 'love story' is a major stretch. I felt so uneasy watching this film in the middle and final parts. The characters were so little developed and this was not helped by the weak acting and terrible dialog. This is the perfect example of a novel that should be left to the literary world and not to cinema. I've seen many depressing films in my life and somehow they lift you up or at least explain the intentions and justice is served or there is a silver lining. This film leaves you feeling empty and disturbed which i almost respect because in reality bad things happen to people and there is little happiness in certain situations. But to watch this film intentionally aware of what is going to happen.... you just wouldn't do it. It's a one time watch and never again.

I was expecting a cute gay love story, but it felt more like a disturbing version of Twilight. If you want something like that, you will like this movie but otherwise you will probably hate it.I never was quite sure what was going on. It's clear that homophobia was rampant in the little southern town and that his father was a crazy drunk. Exactly what drove his father to get drunk all the time and for his mother to give away all sense of control away was unclear to me.Also, why they would perform gay sex acts in a tent next to the other boys or randomly in an abandoned house where there was clearly imminent danger to them being caught was confusing to me. How could homophobia be so present yet the characters give no indication of their fear of being caught?The overall tone of the movie revolves around the two boys' pent up love for each other and the ensuing emotional tension. Sporadically their love/lust overcomes whatever was holding them back. Eventually they are caught and then one of the older boys who catches them rapes and murders the one boy. I watched this entire film with the hope that it would turn around and get better, but honestly it just ended in utter tragedy with not much resolve. I just felt icky and disappointed. Perhaps it teaches some important lessons and artistically presents some interesting ideas, but I can't say that I enjoyed it at all.

The direction was exquisite in portraying the allure of the initial phases of attraction. With the skillful editing and the above-average to beautiful cinematography, the movie had a well-paced, rich, atmospheric delivery. The director, James Bolton, handled the actors deftly. Bolton carefully spent enough time on the characters to let us know the possible layers of meaning of the way they gaze at each other. The two leads were quite effective. Stephen Bender especially provided an intriguing aura to the character. Diana Scarwid and Thomas Jay Ryan were remarkable in their few scenes. Even Randy Wayne, Owen Beckman, and Rooney Mara delivered.The soundtrack was good but had mixed applications. At the music's best, it delivered subtle meaningful tonal contrasts. At its worst, it was obtrusive and distracting.I haven't read the book, so I'm judging the screenplay on its own. A gay growing-up story has been told over and over again ad nauseam. This movie had all the clichés. What was interesting was the surreal shift with the potential for multilayered interpretations. Not everyone will like this. Personally, this makes me want to read the book. I was satisfied enough with the delivery of this aspect, but I agree it could have been better. The ending was a unique and thought-provoking way of escaping gay media triteness.