Jailbait

I saw this at TriBeCa Film Festival, and I loved it. Even though there is only one brief moment of violence in the movie, I found myself breathless and tense through out the entire film. All of the harassment was insinuated. The degradation was hurtful and apparent. The movie was only the two cell mates for the majority of the film, and it was just so...you just have to see it. It is heart breaking and leaves you helpless and angry and sympathetic. The scene between Randy and his mother...ugh. I don't know, there's not much you can say about the film with out seeing it...it is an emotional ride more than anything else...a lot of insinuation, a lot of fantastic wordless acting...I hope to god it's released for all to see.

I did not care for this movie at all, very uneventful and very little script, not a good one so i'd suggest you save your time and pass on watching this one as you may be disappointed by this movie. The ending was very abrupt and the story (script) had very little to offer the viewer.Pass on this movie and watch something good. This movie "Jailbait" was one of the worst movies i have seen, did not live up to it's billing. Basically a one character script due to the fact that Randy (Michael Pitt) had very little dialog and most of the movies dialog was by Stephen Adly Guirgis (Jake) who gave a good performance but still was not enough to save this movie from being awful, all and all i didn't enjoy this movie to recommend to you, so the best i can say is in this one sided movie was lackluster and didn't have much to offer it's audience in the way it was written it had no surprises or Suspense and little if any drama, the only thing that made this movie anything was Stephen Adly Guirgis (Jake) who's acting ability kind of saved this movie from being a total disaster which is what it came close to being, he did give it some uplifting moments at times but other then that it wasn't worth seeing, so take your chances if you do decide to watch this movie as it really failed in the script and the ending. That's the reason i had to rate it a 1 out of 10.

I first saw Michael Pitt in 'Funny Games US'. He portrayed a character so dislikeful , that I wanted to see the otherside of his acting range. He surely did not disappoint. This guy is a wonderful actor and not that popular yet. I do not want to give him all the credit in JAILBAIT. Stephen Adli Guergis was awesome as well . The movie played like a Broadway Play with a low budget for actors . Thus most of the movie was dialogue . That was very OK though. These actors had great chemistry and I believe the realism of a jail cell was portrayed accurately. Basically it was an alpha dog that took charge of a meek individual and thus the psychological and sociological ramifications of the movie were explored . The movie did not break new ground I must admit as some other reviewers brought to light. The movie did show , in entertaining fashion , I might add , the dynamics of an individual prison cell. This was a tasteful movie with some untasteful , but realistic manner of what goes on in 'said' prison cell. Where the movie was different than most was that it explored the individual cell , with just the 2 characters , as opposed to most prison movies that basically involve the whole penitionuary. From that aspect the movie did differ. In summation, I recommend this movie at optimum alertness and revel in the great acting while you are watching.

Like I have stated in other comments that I have made for other films, I am no expert-- just a chick who loves a good story. However, when I see something that haunts me long after I get on the 101 freeway, I feel obliged to chime in with my comments.

After months of hunting down when and where this film would release in the LA area, I finally sat down in my chair, stub in hand at the Grande Laemmle downtown. I thought I would remain the only member in the audience given the lack of advertisement, but shortly after I arrived two older guys showed up. One of them had a handy-cam, so I figured they were just a couple of old pirates. Nope. The 'pirate' ended up being the father of Brett C. Leonard, the writer/director of the film and his camera was not for pirating-- just had it with him. After hearing Bruce Leonard's story of his son's long journey to getting the film off the ground and on to the screen, I was more than ready to see it. It was definitely worth the wait.

From the limited number of cast members, the one principle setting, the almost exclusive use of the color blue and the lack of 'mood' music, you really got a sense of confinement. The acting was great. I was scared of Randy's (Michael Pitt) cell mate and wanted to be his friend all at the same time. Very amusing and yet horribly disturbing character. Michael Pitt was dead on once again. You really felt for the guy's situation and, no doubt, his regret. Clearly, the film wanted to touch on the ridiculousness (is that even a word?!) of California's three strikes rule. Without giving anything away, I can say that this film while not preachy is definitely a discussion starter (aren't all of the good ones that way?).

By not putting the two principle characters in a few other settings within the prison, i do feel that the director missed an opportunity to take advantage of the medium. A lot of the dialog could have been done in the prison yard or the mess hall..even the library mentioned at the beginning of the film. This would have also allowed us to see how the other inmates were living and interacting. Maybe even opening up the idea that Randy's situation was not just his hard luck, but the simple, sad truth of many other inmates.

Regardless of these thoughts, this was a disturbing, touching and thought-provoking drama. The writer and director should be proud of his accomplishment. I know his father sure is.

Thank God this film will finally receive its long-overdue theatrical release later on this summer! I saw it a while back at a film festival and thought it was one of the best independent films I'd seen in a long, long time. It is extremely powerful, disturbing, thought-provoking and funny all at the same time. The performances by all four actors are spot-on. Michael Pitt continues to impress. In fact, I think he went deeper emotionally in this film than any other, with the possible exception of 'Last Days.' Stephen Adly Guirgis surpasses his 'Palindromes' performance by a country mile. He's fantastic. And the film as a whole has a very mature, seasoned tone, pace and structure. It reminded me of some of Fassbinder's films. And early Louis Malle and a bit of Bresson. A great debut by writer/director Brett C. Leonard. I heard after the screening I saw that they shot the whole thing in 8 or 9 days. Incredible. Does anyone know when it will premiere in L.A.? I believe it opens New York sometime in July. Anyway, if it comes out where you live, I highly recommend it. A great example of auteur, personal film-making on a shoe string budget.