User reviews

The act that precipitates the ending is a pure mystery to me. I'd really appreciate a plot spoiler.

I was brought to tears having been captivated by a story, and images, so real, so poetic. They will live in me for a long time. The canopy of trees embracing painful lives, the glances of desire, following Bobby (literally, as he's often filmed from the back) as he navigates emotions. Visually beautiful and moving.

Grear Patterson has created a captivating and masterful tale of high school Gen X youths (and some of the adults around them) wrestling with grandiose visions of self, pained explorations of love and sex, response to mental and physical abuse, and the clouds of loneliness that impede and cripple everyone, ultimately leading to a startlingly crescendo in which the world is never the same again. Lyrical, beautiful, hypnotic in its pacing and visual elegance, the viewer is caught up in rising tensions and emotional ruins. The performances are distinctively mature for so many first time screen actors. Patterson has an incredibly particular understanding of human relation as viewed through the lens of damaged people striving for better and bigger visions of themselves, and his actors risen to its expectations. The hushed and impressionistic telling, rightfully obscures and blurs to add to a building intensity, and romantic tremor. Nevertheless, I have minor complaints, and I emphasize minor: knowing the true story on which the film is loosely based offered me insights that might come more difficultly to first time viewers. There were just a few moments when the destabilization of the viewer demanded too much and could have been eliminated with only minimal illuminations. Only slight more character and background development, especially of the two young male leads, and their shared love interest, would have enhanced the film. Although it is important for the two young male characters to be deliberately mingled; in the beginning just a little more (only a very little more) distinction would have been helpful. In many ways this is a perfect film, and astounding as a first one. I gave it only 9 stars because the last scene is an attack on the glories and subtleties and richness of this extraordinary film - those last few seconds turning what is a deep and affecting experience into a grade D horror movie ending which should be expunged. Saying that, near the end, the calamity that comes could have been foreshadowed with just a few seconds more of realistic details of Adam's final watershed minutes. For me, replacing the current ending with such a simple addition would have lifted the film almost to masterpiece status.I hesitate to say what I think would work so as not to give any spoilers. I hope a director's cut will prove to return the film to the poetic tour de force it is meant to be.

This is a sophisticated film where every clue counts. I watched it several times and appreciated it more and more with each viewing. Abbreviated narrative and lush cinematography, it tells a tale not easy to absorb, with performances both intensely explicit and highly nuanced. There is an escalation of almost unidentifiable tension, and yet, after the crescendo, no trivialization through judgement. A classic drama mingled with the sweetness of love, love between adolescents, between adults, and between a mix of the two. And the painful reality that a single incident can be irreversible, its consequence everlasting.

A wonderfully vibey and subtle work. The beauty of the camera work and growing suspense engages the audience from beginning to end.

Greer Patterson's art is the stirring and evocative image, which is the heart of film-making and visual storytelling. GBL is stunning frame to frame. A great first film; looking forward to the second, and the third.

Giants Being Lonely is both a paean to and nightmare of hometown life. The flashing-by visual beauty of the world captures the fleeting of time itself. We feel it set in amber. This beauty serves the emotional fevers of the teenaged boys on the ball team as well as the fevers and appetites of the starved, isolated adults of the town who feed on the boys. Amalia Culp's performance, almost mute but intensely expressive, as the coach's beautiful, terrorized, wandering wife especially stays in my memory.

Giants Being Lonely is a film that people will either love or hate. It´s refreshing to see something different that truly encapsulates what it feels like to be young. This film does not chew your food for you, but leaves you to have a dialogue with it. I recommend everyone watch it because many wont understand but those who do will see the importance of a film like this. Looking forward to whats next from these young film makers.

Grear Patterson is a brilliant storyteller. His creative approach to telling a story charged with tension and complicated characters takes the viewer through a myriad of emotions. Through minimal dialogue and stunning visuals, Patterson has created a gem of a film. He respects the viewer's intelligence and ability to piece together a thought-provoking story without holding their hand. This is what great art does- stirs our emotions and leaves us questioning.

A remarkable debut from a young talent to watch. Grear Patterson has done an exquisite job of capturing complicated relationships (romantic, familial, peer group), the ache of being caught up in currents beyond your control, feeling alone and invisible in a marriage, and the exhilarating terror of standing on the precipice of adulthood.

Giants Being Lonely is full of beautifully filmed scenes. It is a tense story of high school kids wrestling with coming of age issues and parental abuse with a truly haunting ending. Watch it.

A stream of complex simplicity, I willfully gave myself over to this film. The word "alluring" surfacing during, and after my viewing. I was not only drawn-in by the characters, I was drawn into the characters. I watched without having a story-line, and found myself equally interested in each portrayal. This study beautifully captures the depths of heartache, disappointment, and longing perfectly parallel to the superficial embraces of popularity, boldness, and sabotage.

The videography has many stunning moments; the practice of filming away from the action, giving the viewer opportunity to welcome their own imagination to play, is a brilliant approach. One cannot help but feel the soothing effect of nature; forest scenes, the pond, the river, the trees - in contrast to the brick and mortar solidity of human emotion. The dream-like, slow-motion-but-in-real-time feeling kept me captivated, perhaps even mesmerized with wonder -where is this leading? Why is this important? What does this mean?

There is looming agony tomorrow, of today's actions - tomorrow's fear of yesterday. Knowing discovery will occur, perhaps even inviting it. I exhaled deeply upon finish, as though I had been holding my breath, and quite possibly, I had. Then I watched again.

I so badly wanted to soften the ending, but reality is a tough row to hoe. Kudos to Grear Patterson, and crew on this mysterious, haunting tale.

This is a stunning debut film for Grear Patterson. As someone who had seen his early videos, it was recognizable; parts of it felt like Grear's films from his beginnings - beautiful, dreamy cinematography, a building sense of foreboding mixed with innocence. There was some confusion for me, between the main characters, and some plot reaches; an ending that might be rethought. But a great achievement for a young filmmaker.

A moving and intimate story that will not leave you indifferent. The mastery of the silences, the moments of tension and discomfort and the great performances make this a film worth seeing.

Patterson has created a lush, and elegantly paced coming of age film with sublime cinematography and fabulous editing. We get precision glimpses into the lives of a handful of teens in rural North Carolina. We are let in on the complexities and banalities of their lives - from overbearing and negligent parents to baseball practice and the big dance. The mix of seasoned actors and first timers worked beautifully. And the soundtrack had me yearning for more. The entire film allows us to be the quiet observer, relishing each delicious frame. The ending scene, however, pounded us on the head like the needle across the record even though we would have understood everything without it.

Giants Being Lonely is a heartbreaking coming of age film. With an enchanting young cast and incredible cinematography, this film shows amazing depth for first time filmmakers. It's a must see!

This film captures beautifully the feel of what it's like to be a certain age in a certain place. We were drawn in from the start and sustained throughout. We see that some people had trouble distinguishing between the two main characters; perhaps it was helpful that we were warned in advance, but it seemed very clear to us which was Bobby and which Adam - their differences in look and personality made it easy. We gather that the filmmaker has not made many films, so this early effort - so skillful with the camera, full of touching emotion and beauty - augers well for what comes next. We will be awaiting it.