El fin de la inocencia

This movie is done very well and definitely engaging to watch, but perhaps not quite to my taste.

This is a movie about a tight group of 4 children -- a precocious girl, an overweight boy, and twin brothers, the more out-going who is killed in an accident. The funeral starts the journey of understanding the lives of the remaining 3 -- not only how the family deals with the murdered son/brother, but how the overweight boy deals with his obesity, and how the young girl deals with her mother and absent father.

The heart of the movie really revolves around these near teenagers, and as a result, the coming-of-age experiences are highlighted. At times, I laughed awkwardly, probably out of embarrassment for one of the characters. Nothing wrong with this -- in fact, it's probably what the director was trying to achieve. I was also pulled into the bizarre logic the brother was going through -- through talks with his parents, and even more poignant, some of the very personal kid-to-kid conversations. The visual clues and the inter-actions to parents were all well chosen to create characters that were believable, 3-dimensional and full of conflict. Kudos to the director and actors on this fine work. In particular, the precocious young girl (Zoe Weizenbaum) was well-cast in a very strong, conflicted and convincing performance.

Overall -- well done. This is one of the best 'pre-teen-angst' movies I've seen in a long time.

Fantastic movie with a multitude of messages. Would make for an excellent movie to show and discuss in schools - I dare you :-) Acting is incredible and pretty much all comes trough the screen as real persons and not some abstractions from a writers imagination.

What hopefully will get through to the viewers is how perceptive children are in reading the adults world both literally and the subtle emotions that adults/parents try to keep them from getting. Since most children doesn't have the experience and information needed to filter all this, it can have some really disturbing consequences when children acts in response as is clearly shown here. Luckily it isn't all children who grow up with these kind of experiences - at least not as extreme, but I'm afraid that a lot of parents would be very scared to know that an awful lot actually can relate to this movie...

Nice production, good script, outstanding casting, great young actors and well chosen music makes this a gem. One can complain about some of the extremes of the plot, but forgive the excesses and farcical elements for the sake of a well woven story. It begins with four kids, friends growing up in a middle-class neighborhood. A significant event splits the initial single thread into three, each following a child: the precocious Malee making her first amorous exploration; Leonard and his struggle with obesity, not only his but also of his immediate family; and the conflicted Jacob. While the film would classify as a drama, there is a good deal of humor to counterbalance the tension that is maintained throughout. The editing is superb in how it moves nimbly among the threads, keeping us always interested and curious about what will happen to the characters. The young actors deliver their parts with aplomb which combined with excellent directing should make this a success.

This movie touches on a series of issues troubling America today seen thru the eyes of it's youth. The film shows us that problems in areas such as violence, guns, race issues and obesity are no longer limited to adults but play an active part amongst young people as well. The film centers around a group of 12 year old friends and their families. All with different problems which reflect on their parents short comings. The script is very well written and the acting is quite extraordinary throughout the entire film. The only real problem is that the movie feels a little too short, but perhaps it's better to quit while ones ahead. I'd recommend this film to anyone with an interest in human nature and all it's flaws.

This is a haunting coming-of-age film about children, bound by a common, shocking tragedy, who struggle to get on with life and overcome their own troubling problems. Despite the severity of issues conveyed in this film's overlapping vignettes, it never becomes melodramatic. Artful screen writing and direction infuse humor in the telling of these children's stories---stories rich with characters who are colorful, but never contrived. All of the children provide very genuine, endearing performances---essential if the audience is going to empathize with them and their disturbing behavior. This movie will frequently make you uncomfortable---very uncomfortable. But no matter how horrifying and even monstrous these children's actions may be, they never lose their appealing and disarming qualities as children. These are very cool kids, even the most troubled, who easily win your affection.

During the course of the movie, one of the children queries the others by asking, "Do you know ninety-percent of people's problems are due to their inability to get over the past?" All of these children will be faced with this challenge. You hope all will overcome this obstacle, but sadly, not all of them will or should be able to get over their past.