ReaderKenka Let's be realistic.

filippaberry84 I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Sabah Hensley This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Brenda The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

Irishchatter Y'know, I have found this film extremely sad. You feel so sorry for young Duncan because his old man didn't give him enough love after his mother suddenly passed. I honestly felt like hugging the pair of them because of both their loss. It's not easy being a teen nor minding one haha! Grief really messed up the father badly, including the fact, he just had to burn his late wife's clothes to forget about her loss and move on. He should've realised, it doesn't work out like that! He should've spent more time with his son and just sort out things to make sure their relationship is stable! I honestly didn't think Perry was the right guy for Duncan. The rape scene just gives you an uneasy feeling. If I was Duncan, I would call the police and arrest him! Also when those crowd of you know whats were killing that Chicken broke my heart, why on earth did they show this? They should've at least give respect to animal lovers, it was just wrong! I can't blab on anymore, the movie was good but my heart honestly aches after watching this!

professional_eraser this film is about a boy who is brought up in isolation with his mother which he was very close to, and his father whom he looked up to but never got the same response in affection as he did with his mother. thus creating an imbalance in the emotional side in Duncan.as children we always emulate our (loving)parents. and as children we learn 95% FROM WHAT WE SEE AS WE DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT THE PARENTS OR ADULT WANTS when they speak. its amazing how that point is never brought up.so when Dun can's mother died so did the emotional security that instinctive feeling of nothing can go wrong.Duncan tries his father but fails to get the response.AND LIKE WE ALWAYS DO AS HUMANS, WHEN WE FAIL WITH THE FAMILY WE TRY TO GET IT FROM SOMEWHERE ELSE, AND IT DOES NOT MATTER WHERE FROM AND WHAT PRICE WE PAY, AS LONG AS WE GET THAT EMOTIONAL FIX, THAT SECURITY BLANKET THAT FEELING. DUNCAN'S journey manifested into a homosexual experience because of the refusal of the father. Duncan didn't have a problem with his mother, he churned the affection of his father and if it meant that Duncan would make himself to be like his mother to get it he will. and he did. the end of the movie Duncan gets what he wanted. the affection of his father.

drcloke 3 men (2 boys and a grownup) with pain they cannot speak about are pitched against each other - denying what is inside them and trying to change the other. They hurt each other in the process and in the hurt and the feeling of the pain, is their personal redemption. The actor who plays the father is superb in the way he is trying to cope with his own loss and at the same time tries to deal and help a son who is "strange" learning in the end that what is really needed is to openly express his own feelings, help his son vocalize his feelings and pain and to hold onto each other ( as distinct from holding onto the dead mother/wife) and not let go. In the end, it did not matter whether either or both the boys were gay or not - you just cared about them

gradyharp Michael Burke both wrote and directed this first class, finely wrought exploration of coming of age in the emotional battlefield of rural bigotry. Rarely has so much been said so successfully with so little dialogue. Burke is clearly a gifted filmmaker about whom we should be hearing much! The film opens with what appears to be an idyllic country road over which a person on an old bicycle is delivering eggs. As the credits are ending we see the person on the bicycle walk up a steep incline then fall to the ground. As the actual film opens we discover that this person was the mother of Duncan (Emile Hirsch in a career making performance), a fourteen year old young lad who is left mourning with his distant father Edgar (Richard Jenkins). Unable to wholly cope with the loss of his mother, Duncan holds closely to her remnants - a chicken as a pet who his mother taught him could be calmed by putting the chicken's head in Duncan's mouth, an old fake fur coat he wears to bed, and some kitchen skills he learned at her side. Edgar is resentful that Duncan isn't more helpful on their small farm and is shaken by observing Duncan's means of mourning his mother.Duncan is a loner, hungry for relating, and encounters neighboring Perry (Tom Guiry, in another gripping performance), a seemingly macho kid who apparently is beaten (if not more) by his low-class father. The two bond, slowly, out of mutual needs. Perry defends Duncan's ridiculing by the local rowdy kids and even encourages Duncan to join the drinking bouts with the group. Yet Duncan remains an outsider, longing to be included, and when certain events occur with Perry (Perry urges Duncan to put on his mother's wedding dress in the secrecy of the barn and then progresses to having Duncan perform sexual acts with him, declaring all the while that he, Perry, is not gay...) only to have the incident be partially discovered by Duncan's father. At odds with what to do with his strange acting son, Edgar forces Duncan to work at meaningless jobs on the farm, help with the haying, and makes Duncan observe the burning of the mother's clothes and belongings.Duncan seeks Perry's consolation after the above events and despite Perry's homophobic comments, Duncan manages to gain the kiss from Perry that he so desires as a resurrection of affection desperately missing in his life. Perry is further abused by his own father and participates to a degree in an incident of harassment by the local rowdies of Duncan and his pet chicken. It is the method in which this final confrontation ends that speaks so strongly about Duncan's needs and Perry's buried feelings. After the confrontation Duncan rides his bicycle home to where his father finally perceives the agony chewing Duncan's soul and the movie ends in one of the most life affirming moments ever captured on film.The photography is magnificent, the musical score is spare and enhancing, and the acting on the part of every member of this well directed cast is superb. This is a film that deserves wide audience exposure, and especially for those young people who are struggling with their sexuality in the ugly isolation surrounding the lives of the main characters of this excellent film. Grady Harp, March 05