Crutch

The movie itself deserves a higher rating, however the poor quality DVD compression lowers the score.

First, the movie! It's fantastic! It's human in every way... beautiful, horrifying, heart aching, wrenching, tender, flawed, alluring, endearing and intense. Rob Moretti has created a dramatic whirlwind of emotion that elevates his film leagues above the pantheon of other coming-out / coming-of-age films. Thankfully, clichés are out the window and typical composite caricatures are not on Moretti's menu. We get humans in all their faded, rough, raw and yet stunning glory utilized to tell a life's story of hard-hitting realism as a young and impressionable teenager is taken advantage of by an older, more experienced man. From their flirtatious first meeting to their horrific parting of ways and every scorching moment between, we are privy to Moretti's life in a fascinating, voyeuristic way. The lead performances are amazing! Eben Gordon, Rob Moretti and Juanita Walsh are true standouts; their performances are human, gripping and visually arresting as we are treated to such rare and believable nuances of character it's like watching a documentary. I simply cannot wait for Moretti's next film! Now, the down side. Unfortunately movies of this caliber rarely see more then one DVD pressing… Hollywood thinks that America is more interested in mega special editions of the latest cheese-fest starring Tom Cruise (and who can deny those box office numbers, America has never as a whole had very good taste). Therefore it is utterly disappointing to see such a spectacular film get such horrible treatment. The compression is so poor that it's distracting while watching the film. Compression artifacts are abound; pixelation aplenty and colors are off. There are ghost images, blacks are muted and details are lost. Upon close inspection I discovered that the DVD compression company greatly disserviced the film, its creators, performers and audience by cheaply utilizing only half of the available space on the disc resulting in a sub-par movie experience. Worst of all, we get a non-anamorphic transfer to a 2.31:1 image. In this day and age of advanced televisions and players there is simply no excuse to offer non-anamorphic DVDs. Combine that with such a shotty transfer and it undermines the very foundation of the medium and is tantamount to spitting in the face of the intended consumer. With a $24.99 suggested retail price one certainly expects much better quality. This is truly disappointing!

Rob Moretti's story, based on his real life experiences, opens wide the often difficult struggles of "coming out". The complication is heightened by a family falling apart, parental mental illness, an older mentor prepared to take advantage and access to recreational drugs. Dealing with one or two or these issues would be more than most could handle, however this movies main character was dealing with all of them. Crutch/Moretti masterfully works this into the story without making the lead character seem pathetic. Eben Gordon does a magnificent job of playing the title character while Rob Moretti very effectively portrays the mentor that enables our lead characters move toward a path of destruction. The end credits let the audience know what became of each character. Our main character found his way to seven years of sobriety. That character is Moretti himself and gives the audience the reward of knowing he is okay! This movie really touched me.

It's hard to be too critical of something quite this viscerally autobiographical. It was his life and this is the way auteur Rob Moretti wants to relate it. It tells of his late youth as he comes to terms with his sexuality, his family's reaction to that, and to addiction. It's largely played through the eyes of "David" (Eben Gordon) who has to balance his own needs with those of those around him. Might he be able to find happiness with "Kenny" (Moretti)? Well that's what the next ninety minutes explore, and although this is clearly a labour of love for the director, it is certainly not for the viewer. The production is basic, at best. The dialogue resorts all to often to expletive-ridden rants that, though they do convey to an extent the frustration of this young man - actually served to lower the already struggling standards of the film. Sure, tell your story - but if you cannot connect with the audience then it becomes and remains little better than a vanity project. The acting here is mediocre, the pacing slow and it is all just a bit too self-indulgent to really engage. It's always a danger when one person controls the entire creative process of a film, and when it is about that person's life experiences too it can - and this one certainly does - lose any sense of objectivity. This is poor, sorry.

The title of the review says it all. It starts with a sixteen year old boy taking acting classes. It was something in his life that he wanted to pursue. The problem is that his teacher, who is twice his age or more, wants more than that. "Come early to class." "Let me drive you home." And then there's what happened in the car with David's girlfriend in the backseat and creepy Kenny's friend. They were apparently both asleep. Then Kenny's friend says "there is love". It's like Rob Moretti wants to tell us that kind of behavior is okay.

Anyway, David's mother is an alcoholic. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree thought that's not his fault. We see he's in a 12 step program at various points in the movie. The problem is that he's not talking like someone who's an addict but instead like someone who is speaking to an audience. If you want a closer look at sobriety watch "Moms". Trust me, as someone who been to plenty of 12-step meetings this isn't how it goes.

MAY BE SPOILERS - I guess if I would have known more about this movie, I probably wouldn't have watched it. Even though I believe that, as adults, we should have the right, without fear of retribution, to experiment with, or get involved in, whatever lifestyles or sundry aspects of life we desire, even when others may regard this behavior as sordid, or however distasteful to them. Of course this is dependent on this behavior being by, and between, consenting adults of sound mind, and that no other persons, animals, etc. are harmed, burdened, or unduly subjected to it. Given this, it does not mean that I have to personally like it or want to view it (hence, the "I probably wouldn't have watched it" comment). This film would probably be characterized as a gay-themed film, although it was more than that, and touched on a variety of issues. Again, what consenting adults do is their own business, but this situation was quite a bit different. The main character is a very confused 16-year-old boy, who is preyed upon by a 30-year-old male teacher of an acting class the boy takes. The boy, whose parents are too self-absorbed in their own problems, is in desperate need of someone he can talk to and confide in about his awful home situation - and about life in general for someone evolving through, what are possibly, the most confusing, emotional, and important formative years in one's life. Unfortunately, the teacher is only concerned with his own agenda (as we see is the case of all the characters in this film), which is seducing the boy. Little by little, the teacher works on this seduction until it evolves into David (the youth) being a regular visitor at his apartment, where the minor is plied with plenty of alcohol and marijuana, and eventually he turns the boy, and Kenny (the teacher) and David are seen spending most of their time together getting loaded and engaging in sex. It gets progressively worse for David. The teacher is also a heavy cocaine user. One day, while snooping around in his bathroom, David finds a healthy bag of the powdered form of the drug, and steals it (Apparently Kenny must have had quite a stash, as he never even misses the 1-2 gram bag). With all of David's difficulties, the cocaine looks like something to alleviate his mental anguish. Unfortunately, it's just another "crutch," and what looks like a temporary solution, inevitably develops into just one more problem.

I won't go into the whole story here, but with all the problems and pressures in David's life - the very dysfunctional home life; his use of drugs and alcohol; his confusion over his sexual identity and unhealthy "relationship" with his teacher; and the fact that he's just a teenager in the first place, and sorely equipped to logically deal with his condition; his mental state gets worse.

Maybe I'm getting old, and more responsible, but I had a problem with this film, and that was that the filmmakers didn't really seem to see anything wrong with a 30-year-old sexual predator, in the role of a teacher, taking advantage of a very vulnerable and mixed up kid of 16. Nothing seems to ever have been done about Kenny, and even at the end of the film, they mentioned something on the order of "his whereabouts is unknown, may be teaching somewhere else." How many people out there would want this character as a teacher for their children? It doesn't take a genius to figure out how all but a very few would answer.

Whether I agree with all of them or not, this guy has broken a whole raft of serious laws, and he needs to spend a few years behind bars. I don't know how accurate this portrayal was, but, supposedly, this was an autobiographical film based on the life of this picture's writer/director, Rob Moretti (his first). As is the case with most of us, we might be able to come up with solutions, or otherwise advise and help others with their problems, but when it comes to stepping back and taking an objective assessment of our own difficulties, we quite often are unable to do a very good job. Perhaps this is what happened here with Mr. Moretti. Do society a favor, Mr. Moretti. If this guy is for real, find this monster and have him arrested - before he works his evil on more troubled and impressionable youths.