This film held my interest from beginning to the very end with Joseph Fiennes, (Stephen) leaving a prison after serving a sentence of murdering a man and has been given a job at a dinner with some very strange people running the establishment. Dennis Hopper,(Horace) plays the role of a very dirty filthy old man who abuses a young waitress in sexual ways to degrade her. There are two central characters who appear in this film which has flashbacks with Elizabeth Shue, (Mary Bloom) who is a very attractive young woman who is married to a professor and lives in a very comfortable home and has a young girl. Mary Bloom is told that her husband is having an affair and Mary reacts by making love to a man who is painting her home and from this point in the film everything begins to turn into many different kinds of mysterious events. Great acting by the entire cast and especially the performance of Elizabeth Shue. Enjoy

Why had I never heard of this movie until I saw it sitting on the video store shelf? I hadn't seen Elisabeth Shue in anything really good lately, and I hadn't seen Joseph Fiennes in anything since Shakespeare In Love, so I didn't have high hopes for this movie. But I'd have to say it's one of the best I've seen in a long time.This is one of those movies in which different story lines converge into one towards the end of the film. Fiennes is a recently released convict, having served 15 years for murder. Shue portrays a lonely wife and, later, a seemingly heartless mother. While both actors are great in this movie, Shue in particular is shocking (in a good way). Shue is unfailingly likable, whether playing a babysitter or a hooker, so seeing her as Mommy Dearest is both unsettling and refreshing. Having been in the industry for nearly 2 decades when this movie was released, it's exciting to see the (still gorgeous) actress making yet another Leaving Las Vegas-style breakthrough.I don't want to give away any important plot points, so suffice it to say that this movie left me with the same disturbed, depressed, yet greatly moved feeling that I get from movies like American Beauty. Don't let the fact that most people have never heard of it keep you from picking it up during your next trip to the video store.

First of all you must be an adult who likes serious drama to watch this film, otherwise, negative comments don't qualify. For a first time director to helm a cast of extremely talented actors, he's created a drama just short of a masterpiece. Joseph Fiennes is one of the most underrated actors working today. His mastery of the American southern dialect is superb. Elizabeth Shue, who is constantly overlooked when juicy female roles are doles out, once again delivers a remarkable performance as does Deb Unger in a lesser and difficult role. Sam Shepard and Dennis Hopper are up to par as usual. This talented cast worked for scale and for the sheer love of the project and it shows. For a low-budget independent film, the DP went to great lengths to set up unusual photography and is better than most 'A' pictures. The flashbacks and present day stories are combined so well and naturally, it's easy for anyone to follow the engrossing plot of a kid, born out of wedlock, the night his mother's husband and daughter were killed in an auto accident. Shue, the mother, blames Leo, (Fiennes) the rest of his life which leads him to murder and prison while trying to save his mother's life. But even then, she won't come to his defense. It's a cold picture of child abuse and neglect of a smart intelligent kid longing to be loved while always trying to do the right thing, no matter the consequence. The movie is heavy drama and if you expect less, you'll be disappointed.

LEO is the kind of film few people will have heard of--and that your local video store dealer will try to get you to rent because he knows nothing about it, either, and wants you to check it out for him. That's what happened to me, at least. And with a cast this interesting, why not? Let me tell you why not. This is a very ambitious attempt to deal with themes of identity, child abuse, guilt, redemption and acceptance (all wrapped around James Joyce and his Ulysses, for Christ sake!)--with almost none of the requisite writing or directing talent to back up all that ambition. The director appears to have relied upon his good cast, who undoubtedly came aboard due to the ambitious script. But acting talent can only go so far; here, it stops well short of productivity. Elizabeth Shue is particularly wasted--emoting to beat the band in a role that is one-note (well, one-and-one-half) and tiresome. A young actor named Davis Sweatt does wonders with the main character as an adolescent, and Joseph Fiennes is fine, too. Deborah Kara Unger gets abused again (she's got to stop this sort of thing), Dennis Hopper is his usual nut case, and Sam Shepard's laconic and macho. By film's end, almost anything good has fallen away and what is left seems like pure pretension. It's rare to see so much possibility come to so little.