Not what I expected when I watched it.
The person harping that nothing works, I'm sorry it didn't connect with you. Maybe the story was too drab and you can find yourself some edgy screenplay of a transitioning 9 year old oppressed minority to indulge in.
I personally found this story to be much more raw and honest than expected. I was expecting the cliche drama points.
I think this story came from a place of truth from the writer. There were too many moments that didn't feel scripted. Moments, that as I writer, I know what the formula would tell me to do. What the table of writers would pitch as the next scene.
But this felt organic. Like someone's real diary of a summer being played out.
That was refreshing, that like real life, I didn't know exactly what would happen next.
As for the acting, I think anyone that thinks it was tacky missed what the actors did here.
It's like when someone hates an actor for playing the unlikable character so well. It's because they're a good actor, that you don't like them. Don't fail to recognize that.
And with teen emotion.. teenagers are emotional, irrational, annoying, unsensible at times. And raw.
Tye and the girl (I'm sorry I'm terrible with names) nailed it.
The amount of raw emotion they brought into these scenes is truly on another level.
If you were to watch true young teens going through these circumstances, it would be loud, raw, maybe annoying. It wouldn't be perfectly delivered platitudes from confident handsome young adults that always know the right thing to say. It would be what you saw in this film.
They captured reality.
And can you do anything else as an actor?
Is not that the highest goal of a story teller?
Thinking about how many takes they had to carry that emotion and still have it. If I didn't already know these two actors and the futures they would have after this film, I'd surely have them on my radar for up and coming stars. Well done you two. You put in serious work for these parts emotionally, and it hasn't gone unnoticed.
