Lymelife (15)

Reviewed,Anthony Quinn
Thursday 01 July 2010 19:00 EDT
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

This melancholic study of suburban malaise in the late 1970s has a shiver of The Ice Storm about it. Rory Culkin plays Scott, a sensitive, pasty 15-year-old with a crush on his neighbour Adrianna (Emma Roberts), who only wants to date older boys.

Their respective parents are in turmoil, two of them locked in bleak adultery (Alec Baldwin, Cynthia Nixon), her cuckolded father (Timothy Hutton) a gun-toting depressive and his mother (Jill Hennessy) hiding behind a brittle "happy" face. Writer-director Derick Martini, working from a semi-autobiographical script, neatly catches the yearning mood of a lovelorn teenager, and draws strong performances across the board: Rory Culkin and Emma Roberts are terrific, so too Hutton and Baldwin as the delusional dads. On the debit side, a clumsy symbolism intrudes (a Monopoly board drops and scatters over the floor) and a slight feeling of déjà vu pervades its depiction of unhappy families. But it has a tender heart, and the imprimatur of Martin Scorsese as executive producer.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in