Riders

As low-budget, calling-card movies go, this one is fairly heartfelt and well-produced. Sadler shows a real flair for exploring the psyche of his female teen protagonist, and he's clearly gotten the most production value possible out of a small budget. It's scruffy around the edges, perhaps, but it's a movie that makes me curious to see what the director will do next. RIDERS is certainly leaps and bounds beyond many first films whose makers have been crowned the Second Coming after one successful Sundance screening.

I thought the film was quite good, especially since we are talking about a first-time director and a low-budget production. The film does a good job of creating a disturbing feeling about the sexual abuse by the mother's boyfriend without actually showing anything. The guy gave me a very creepy feeling. I thought the photography was very good and higher quality than the budget would imply. The pacing and development of both the main character's personal growth as well as the growth in the relationship between with her younger sister was very realistic and heartfelt. Considering the bombs you see in the multiplex from more accomplished directors with bigger budgets, a simple story, well-told and paced well, was nice to experience. It will be interesting to see what the director could do with a larger budget and one film under his belt.

I saw this film at the LA Film Festival. It is an intense and complex story. The photography is fantastic. The main characters are portrayed by two young actresses who do a great job. As in real life, the "bad guy" has more facets to him than at first apparent. The ending leaves the viewer with lots to speculate about. It would make for a good conversation with teens as well as adults. I highly recommend this film.

This is a well-crafted, strongly acted, searing movie that is not enough "like" any other movie I've seen to inspire a comparison. Its inability to get general theatrical release is strong evidence that the industry is too busy chasing rainbows that end at 9-digit pots of gold to bother with anything else. I had the good fortune to see it at the Rehoboth (DE) Film festival, where I believe it won the Viewers' Choice vote. The young actors who play the sisters are astonishingly, understatedly good; the director tells a story magnificently without putting speeches in any character's mouth. See it on (I forget which) Flix or Sundance if you can, or rent it; I think it'd pay almost as well on the small screen as it does in a movie house, which is where it belongs!

The acting is excellent, and the movie touched me with its sensitive, complex treatment of the sisters. I like that it does not provide the viewer with a "program", but draws the viewer into the story in a way that engages our creativity and imagination, and allows us to respond in our own fashion to the issues raised.