Hello Herman

Michelle Danner's Hello Herman provides a difficult story to tell. Norman Reedus (of the Walking Dead effectively) provides a character with a troubled past, attempting to uncover the reason behind Herman's high school massacre. Yet, Michelle Danner, a celebrated acting coach in her own rights, portrays within the eponymous character a human complexity that is bound to make audiences uncomfortable. However, that discomfort is essential to the film's intent on providing more sides to the stories of student shootings – or rather, the trials and tribulations that push these student murderers into committing such violent actions. As it turns out, Herman's own victimization to bullying invoked a violent reaction. People who have been bullied themselves can understand Herman's justification. But as reasonable as it is, the film still communicates the importance of human life and how an unconcerned regard for it is inexcusable – and how such injustice only breeds more unjustifiable actions.

This a truly haunting film. Norman Reedus as an online journalist is understated and thoughtful. Garett Buckstrom as the teenager killer is oddly compelling. It's a powerful subject, hypnotically rendered. And I found myself thinking about my own high school bully. Halfway through the film, my wife asked me, "Are kids that mean? The answer, alas, is yes. And the film shows the ways technology---Facebook and the like---renders cruelty both easier to commit and more harmful The killings in the film are rendered in freeze frame so that we see the horror on the victims' faces, but nothing else. There's plenty of gore, though, in the video games that obsess the teenage killer who commits the massacre. The film is part of the "Hello Herman Project" to create dialogue about school bullying. This compelling film is an excellent tool to get the conversation started between parents and children. Well worth watching.

The premise of this movie could have made for a good story but the infantile development by the director was not only bias...something a real crime of this nature should certainly not need...but made you feel as if you were watching a bad soap opera. The b rate actors, excluding the reporter and the young criminal, bring a new low to movies. It would have been easier to watch an hour of the stupid video game they kept showing. Rob Estes was so bad that I actually hope I never, ever have to endure him on the screen again. If you are going to bash Fox...and I am not saying you shouldn't...make sure you at least appear smarter. Terrible direction and lousy actors shred any hope of the premise rising to any fruitful work.

I am such a Norman Reedus fan, so I was very excited to see that he was in a new movie this summer. I may have initially watched Hello Herman out of loyalty to Reedus, but I took away much more than just an increased respect for Reedus as an actor. Michelle Danner blew me away with her exceptional directing that gives us a stark look at the dangers of remaining inactive at quelling violence within our schools and our households. Danner, a renowned Los Angeles acting coach, set out to make this film with endorsements from top Hollywood producers, like Steven Spielberg. From the very beginning it throws you right into the chaos of a town torn apart by the school shootings of a student embittered by perpetual abuse from bullies and personal trauma from home. The film really captures the pain and grief that effects everyone within a town that endures such tragedies. This film will most likely go down as one of the most important and relevant films of 2013

Without a doubt this movie serves the genre of drama pretty well. Norman Reedus and the other actors out perform each other hence the brilliance in each individual performance.