Great cast (except for one huge exception) and some nice shots of a beautiful landscape, but otherwise this movie is enormously flawed.Why am I going out of my way to write a critique? Am I just mean? Perhaps, but I have some thoughts that I think are worth sharing, or at least I have a bone to pick because I feel I am owed some time back.This story is unbelievably boring. It is like watching concrete grow or like watching bolts turn. Hardly anything of interest happens. The only compelling aspect is the family's predicament, but sadly that isn't the focus, and it doesn't satisfactorily change.Any time something seemingly central is about to happen, something else unrelated and peripheral happens instead.There is no cause and effect. When the main character finds his dad among a group of men sharing a hooker, he does nothing, which is weird. That would be the perfect time for the main character to rethink his loyalty to his dad, which would help him decide to agree to leave town right away. The central conflict is that the main character's best friend wants to leave town as soon as possible, and the main character doesn't quite yet. His excuse is that he wants to help out his dad. Once he finds out that his dad isn't the man he thought he was, he should change his mind.Also, the main character's best friend says he needs to get out of town because he can no longer withstand his father's abuse. It would be so much more powerful if he is ultimately beaten to incapacitation by his father, rather than being hit by a car. His father is the looming danger. Having his father beat him to death would make the rising stakes culminate, and it would make the main character's plea "Just one more week..." so much more meaningful.There are peripheral and loose ends that never tie in. This movie needs to be much tighter.Compounding the torture of the boring story, the plot flaws and the dangling ends is the unbelievably awful performance by the actress Tania Ramonde. Her performance might be the worst on-screen performance I have seen in years, if not ever.I don't blame her; I blame the director.How could the director think that her oddly wandering eyes and contrived "sensuality" (I put it in quotes because I do not find her to be sexy at all) are pleasing to either the story or to an audience's eyes? I had to hide my eyes. I really did.Also, her character just appears out of nowhere. Why is she walking around this strange and desolate town all alone so late at night? Why is she dressed like she lives in modern day Beverly Hills? And if this town is so small, how come she and the main character do not know each other before this night when she just walks up out of the darkness?This brings me to another point about the setting: Where are the stores and the cars and the people? Was this project so low budget that they couldn't afford any props or extras? It's like a ghost town, except without the ghosts.In summary, I care about the plight of the family, and I think that most of the acting is quite admirable. I just think that the story is clichéd, boring and long-winded and the acting by the ingénue is...I won't be rude and say it again because I don't want to burst her bubble. Like I said, I blame the director. All in all, I give this movie a 3.

Well Done! An Excellent Showing for Thibault's first Directing/Writing Debut. Great Acting, Great Cinematography, and a good story. A cable network should definitely pick this movie up.Below is some info I googled on how to write a movie review. I included this useful info to meet the IMDb number of lines minimum for posting a review. I think my concise comments were enough. Extraneous comments are unnecessary. How to write a movie review, a guideWriting a movie review is a great way of expressing your opinion of a movie. The purpose of most movie reviews is to help the reader in determining whether they want to watch, rent or buy the movie. The review should give enough details about the movie that the reader can make an informed decision, without giving anyway any essentials such as the plot or any surprises. Below are our guidelines and tips for writing a good movie review.1. Watch the movieThe first step in writing the review is to watch the movie. Watch the movie in a relaxed environment you are familiar with. You do not want to be distracted by an unfamiliar room. Watching the movie a second time will help you absorb a lot more detail about the movie. Most movie reviewers take notes as they watch the movie review. 2. Give your opinionMost movie reviewers will give their opinion of the movie. This is important as the reviewer can express the elements of the movie they enjoyed or disliked. However, as in all good journalism, the reviewer should also give impartial details, and allow the reader to make their own mind over an issue the reader liked or disliked. Opinions should be explained to allow the reader to determine whether they would agree with your opinion .Many regular movie reviewers will develop a following. If one can find a reviewer who shares a similar taste in films, one can confidently follow the reviewers recommendations.3. Who is your audience?You need to consider who your likely readers are. Writing a movie review for children requires a different approach than if writing for a movie club. Ensure you report on the factors that matter to your likely audience.4. Give an outlineGive the outline of the movie, but don't give away essential details such as the end or any surprises. If there is a big surprise you want to entice readers by telling them something special happens, just don't say what.5. ActorsIf the movie contains actors, as most do, detail who is starring in the movie and how well you think they acted.6. StructureDid the movie follow a regular predictable story line, or did it get you thinking like a Quentin Tarantino movie?7.Cinematography and lightingGive details about how well the movie was shot and directed. Was the lighting good in the moody scenes? 8. MusicDid the movie have its own score like Koyaanisqatsi or ET, or did it feature songs from popular artists?9. Read, read and readRead and check your review thoroughly. It can be embarrassing to find errors in your work after it has been published. This is especially important for reviews that will be published on the Internet, as search engines are always looking for the correct spellings of key words.

Half-decent acting, nice cinematography- story wasn't plotted well, characters entered and left with little to no explanation or foreshadowing or really any reason. Story possibly overshadowed by possibly that these are memories of the writer/director, and not enough time was spent making it wholly understandable to an audience with no prior knowledge of his memories. Very anti-climactic, ambiguous rationalizing- and a still shot of space. Main character's thrust not very well explained other than generic "leaving the farm" type of moment at the beginning, not enough tie-ins to previous reinforcing principles and moments earlier in the story. Hoped for more- 3/10

It took me back to a time of best friends and unlimited opportunities, where the world lay at your feet waiting for you to decide what you wanted to do and where you wanted to go. A time of youth and innocence when the realities of life were still on the distant horizon. A time when your desire for something more in life made you leave the security of friends and family and race to that distant horizon and beyond, to embrace all the possibilities and make them your own. Well written and well shot, it definitely evoked the pace and feeling of growing up in small town America without sugar coating the experience. I loved it.