Night Has Settled

If you decide to watch this odd movie and you get quite lost in trying to keep track of exactly what is going on in little tiny Oliver Nicholas mind don't feel alone!

First little Oliver Nicholas is suppose to be like 13 or 14 years old in this story but the child actor, Spencer List, appears to be more like 9 or 10 years old. Plus I had to read-up on this story after watching the movie to realize little Oliver had an imaginary friend!!! I completely missed this in the story! There is a whole scene where little Oliver is talking via telephone about this imaginary friend and little Oliver letting it die. I found that whole scene completely confusing! The only saving grace in that scene is when the younger brother Valerio gives his older bullying brother a taste of his own medicine. The rest of the movie is just a bunch of 5th Ave kids running wild and little Oliver coming to terms over his very ill nanny and little Oliver's sister being very bitchy.

And I know the setting is NYC in the 1980's but I seriously doubt an airline would allow a 13 year old to travel alone all the way to South America.

I found the move soulless and misguided in it's topic.

*********Spoiler Alert************

I had no idea what to expect when I viewed this little gem but was most pleasantly surprised by its depth and insight. The film centres around Oliver; a 13 year old boy who is about to make the transition from boy to teenager when an unexpected tragedy strikes, turning his innocent world upside down. Spencer List carries a great lead role demonstrating sensitivity and though minimalistic in his expression; a vulnerability that accurately conveys the mixed emotions of his character. All this plus a magnetic screen presence that leaves you unable to take your eyes off him. Aida, played by the brilliant Adriana Barraza gives a great support role and the chemistry between the two actors feels so authentic that it creates a sense of empathy in the viewer.

Without giving too much away, this movie takes us through the giddy heights and lows of the transition into adolescence where everything is overly dramatic; love and betrayal; over-confidence and powerlessness; innocence and experience.

The main message however is about the love between a young boy and his nanny and how this love eventually wins out over trauma, shock and confusion eventually bringing a somewhat dysfunctional family closer together. I would definitely recommend a late night watch. 7/10

Okay, only almost every one. A worthwhile story about dealing with loss lies hidden deep inside the movie. But the characters, and especially Oliver, are so thoroughly and consistently repugnant that I just couldn't feel much empathy. They're not quite the sociopaths depicted in Larry Clark's "Kids", but they're veering that way.

Also, the writers/director give us neither background nor current events to explain why Oliver's filial affection became focused on housekeeper Aida rather than his mother. And there's no explanation of why his sister wants so desperately to leave to live with dad rather than with mom. The mom seems like a loving, caring person. Her open and frank communication with 13-year-old Oliver about sexual matters may strike some viewers as off-putting, but I thought it healthy, and so apparently did they. So what is their problem with her? Not explaining this made the entire story somewhat unbelievable, or at least baffling.

The story had huge potential, but failed. What a waste of good film.

Don't much care for the clunky title, but we really loved this touching film memoir, set on Manhattan's Upper East Side in 1983. Thirteen-year-old Oliver has a jokey, extremely casual relationship with his bohemian mother, Luna (Spanish actress Pilar López de Ayala), and a deeper bond with the family's Chilean housekeeper, Aida (Mexican actress Adriana Barraza). When Aida falls ill, the family's thrown into chaos; Oliver's emotional meltdown is beautifully (and almost wordlessly) dramatized. W/d Steve Clark's naturalistic portrait of a pack of privileged kids in the year of David Bowie's "Let's Dance" also seems spot on—the boys acting tough and striking cool poses, the girls joining avidly in the boys' smutty talk, no parents in sight except the ultra-permissive Luna. We'd just watched the smirky Oscar winner, "Birdman," on Blu-ray; this modest film restored our faith in filmmaking as art and communication.