Age Out

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source: Age Out

An 18 yr old must leave foster care. He's never known focus or direction. His goal is survival. He goes from job to job without commitment to any of them. Eventually his life falls apart with no one to turn to but the only person who was actually nice to him once. It seems everybody else in this movie is there to be mean and uncaring to him. This movie has stretches of movement without dialog. Long pointless scenes. Everything looks used. A bit difficult to watch because the plot is a long time coming. Imogen Poots as 'Joan' is a bright spot in his life in the viewers watching.

Once in a great while we have the opportunity to watch a "movie" that allows us to set on the shoulder of its characters, and observe the world that they live in. Taxi Driver and Midnight Cowboy come to mind. I am not saying this effort is in that astronomical realm, but it's not too far behind. Imogen Poots has taken advantage of some great parts and should be considered for a high-end lead. Her understated Joan overcomes a few script deficiencies (they meet because she doesn't know who to drive a standard shift SUV). She's understandably frustrated, probably because they don't make any of those outside of Yugoslavia. Caleb Landry gives an extraordinary performance as "Swim." Occasional Hi Def, natural light scenes offer beautiful segues. Low cost but interesting, very visual sets. Definitely worth your time.

Here is a story about unwanted children, one in particular, who is passed from foster home to foster home, for failing to get along (sometimes his own fault), and when turns 18, he is released from foster care (Ages Out) and tries to survive on his own, but ultimately gets mixed up with some other unsavory youths and experiences a brutal, life-changing event. The story is engrossing, and while watching this I kept feeling "yeah, this is good, I think I'll give it a 7", but when it got to the end, I was greatly disappointed in the empathy of the female lead. Yup, those last 3 minutes dropped it from a 7 to a 6. If the film had ended 3 minutes earlier, and the final scene was cut from the film, I would have rated it a 7, but the final meeting of the two players was bunk.

This is a small, independent movie. It is mostly set in Waco, Texas and mostly shot there. I recognized some of the areas from my several visits a few years back. They even have a scene of throwing tortillas off the Waco Suspension Bridge, a ritual most Baylor college students go through. Texas native Tye Sheridan is the main character, Richie, an orphan who has banged around the foster system for most of his life. He is just turning 18 and as such will be emancipated. But how prepared is a barely educated 18-yr-old to jump right into adult life? This story is about that difficulty and the eventual trouble he finds himself in. It is hard to find a real purpose for this movie other than to tell an interesting fictional story but one which may be close to reality for some in a similar situation. My wife and I watched this at home on DVD from our public library, however she abandoned it when things got a bit weird in the middle of the movie.

Put simply, the movie is about forgiveness. Haven't you ever done something out of ignorance or fear or haste? Haven't you ever been friends with shallow people out of lack of will or respect for yourself? Haven't you ever know someone or yourself to have experienced a loss so great that the definition of yourself must change? These topics are hard to tackle but the film mashes these issues up into an amalgamation of experiences that the viewer must bring from their own experiences to understand and appreciate. If you are paying attention, almost every scene is connected threw juxtaposition of editing and smash cuts of symbolism's hard at work; building things, finished projects and ideas at play. Dreams that could be and nervous realities that are waiting for us to jump onboard with. Aka This guy knows how to edit. If you are an introspective person, this is the type of film that most of us dreamers need/enjoy/love/want, because it allows us the space to realize what we are thinking. Not every frame is saturated with pedantic dialogue. It allows the viewer to come to the realization of what's happening without physically telling you. And in the truest sense of an experience, you are living these emotions in real time as you come to these conclusions. Film is the emotional space that allows you to understand things that you normally otherwise wouldn't and this films allows you to do that. Every frame is cut to perfection. Juxtaposition, despite how often film students love to dilute this word, is used with precision and intent. Nothing about these cuts and edits are lazy or haphazard, or accidental. If you're not seeing it, you may not be in the right mind frame. A.k.a. You're not thinking deeply enough about the images he's showing you. Much like Histoire(s) du cinéma by Jean-Luc Godard 1998, you have to actively participate with what you're seeing and if you are, then the connections to the characters' motivations and emotions will be self evident. This film is a dance, it takes two. You will not be spoon fed. And that's not an artistic ploy of laziness on the part of the director to make 'average film goers' feel stupid; there really is a deeper level to this film that leaves very little to be enjoyed in the shallows. The deeper level is the first level. If you aren't meeting the film there, then you need to dig deeper in yourself, as a participant of the film, in order to be able to participate. Because once you do, this film is a pure roller-coaster ride in the exploration of the best we could be as humans!

I was in a trance for most of the run time. It nosedives a little bit in the end, tacking on a plot that was barely introduced before and making it the main point of the film, but I'll give it a pass because that's not what the film is about. It's an experience. I could not take my eyes off the screen for a second. Amazing work from everybody involved. Definitely watching this one again!