eople who care about movies always say they want filmmakers to take chances, to show them something they’ve never seen before, or at least open their eyes to a new way of seeing. The latter is exactly what does with his second feature Adapted from affecting, elegantly written novel about two young men struggling to stay afloat at a brutal reform school, Ross' movie may not open a door to a whole new kind of filmmaking—Terrence Malick, for one, has experimented with a similar painted-from-memory approach. But it does jolt us into new ways of seeing, and new ways of thinking about what a movie can be.
isn’t wholly successful: Ross’ consciously radical approach ends up blocking some of the power of this harrowing story—there are lots of places where you see filmmaking at the expense of people. But movies don’t have to live in a tightly circumscribed universe; in fact, they’ll die if they do. is a picture on the move, a work that’s traveling forward, the thing we always ask for yet often don’t know how to accept when it arrives.
Ethan Herisse plays Elwood, a bright young kid growing up in 1960s Florida. He shows nothing but promise. Thanks to an encouraging teacher, played by Jimmie Fails, he’s on his way to a good technical college that will cost him nothing.
He’s galvanized by the Civil Rights Movement, eager to engage in protests that he believes will change the world. And you understand exactly why Elwood is the way he is as you learn more about the woma.
