Return to Innocence

Looking beyond the obvious plot, I found myself caught up in the side story hiding within. The story of this sad little boy's search for love. Something his mother never gave him. When the boy does find someone that truly loves him, their relationship is torn apart, sending the boy back to his familiar loneliness, with added confusion on top of that. This side element alone makes this film terrific.

Rocky's effort is plausible. But the use of video in too-brightly lit scenes flattens the experience. When the story gets darker, things just get better. The storytelling becomes gripping once the trouble really starts. The scenes of the trial are superb, very flat-old style, but i still think that B&W should be shot on film. The depth of most scenes is so deep, that you instantly come to think of tv, something I just didn't expect in a film. Alas, there's a huge difference in budget if you shoot on video with a full HD equipment, as this is the case.

The story is definitely a very difficult subject to portray without morally judging each and every character. But the way Rocky and the writer did it for the screenplay is rather superb. This is something to really talk about with kids around that age.

Maybe the topic of age of consent is one of the most complex things in our society to talk about. And I think it's quite absurd to legislate on it. Consent depends on the individual's maturity, background and beliefs. But I'm most sure that consent depends really on just one thing: freedom. The decision capability of an individual to act in a way he or she considers helpful, good or whatever positive adjective you can put on that behaviour. Usually, the real consent in whatever conduct the society claims as criminal, is, alas, love! Two thumbs up for this work. Technically film was a better option for dramatic expression.

I was totally blown away by this movie. I guess mostly because I thought it was going to be another "Oh let's all feel sorry for this poor troubled boy" flick, but damn this thing was much better than that. Some of those scenes were intense. Any movie that can make me squirm in my seat deserves a "thumbs up."

...that a film with no star power could hold my attention throughout the duration. I was glued to my seat. The pace was perfect and the tension built from one scene to the next. The images and concept still with me long after the film was over. This is a great film and I look forward to seeing what the director comes up with next time.

It's a disturbing fact of life, and when handled responsibly, as it is by this writer/director team - meaning without nudity or pandering - the topic can provoke a vital discussion between teens and their parents. Although unrated, MPAA would probably slap an NC-17 rating, barring those under seventeen from attending the film, which would ruin the discussions. Such hypocrisy is invariably at the expense of indie films, while studio product such as American Beauty, in which Kevin Spacey enjoys graphic fantasies of the underage Mena Suvari, slides by with an R rating. The system stinks; Costanzo's movie does not. It's a powerful and provocative achievement from a first-time filmmaker of enormous promise.