Atrás das Grades

Steel City is one of those low-budget movies that makes for satisfying Sundance fare despite lacking the necessary ingredients for broader box-office success. It's the story of a dysfunctional family in a small town in Illinois, centering around 20-year-old PJ (Tom Guiry), who is trying to hold his life together as his father goes to prison for his role in a fatal car accident. PJ is angry, bitter and confused. He can't hold a job or his temper. He resents his older brother Ben (Clayne Clawford), whose life is also unraveling from alcohol, selfishness and philandering. He's feeling alienated from his mother, who has moved in with a black cop and his son. And he tries desperately to be supportive to his father (John Heard), for reasons that gradually emerge in the movie. Finally he is connected to his Uncle Vic (Raymond J. Barry), who helps him get a job and attempts to mentor him.

All this may sound vaguely familiar, but director Brian Jun manages to develop the characters with honesty and compassion. By the end of the movie each character has worked out his redemption, and in the process created bonds of love and concern within the family.

These Steel City characters feel like real people. The writing is crisp, hard and direct. The casting is terrific and each performance believable. This family will grow on you, and you will find yourself rooting for them to do well, to make good decisions, and to find happiness.

Superior performances are the hallmark of "Steel City," a moody, gritty, low-keyed drama set in the economically depressed area of the Upper Midwest. P.J. Lee (Tom Guiry) is a fitfully employed young man with an assortment of obstacles to overcome: his father's in jail on a vehicular manslaughter charge; his mom's re-married to a cop; his older brother's a philandering jerk whose wife walks out on him; and his girlfriend has a weight problem which makes P.J. reluctant to fully commit to her. He's also coping with the guilt of having been at least partially responsible for the fatal accident that his dad is claiming was all his fault.

Though most of the screen time is taken up with the travails that P.J. is facing and the growing up he is forced to do as a result, the movie's true emotional focus is on the lengths a largely absent father will go to in an effort to redeem himself in the eyes of his son - even if that means having to sacrifice his own freedom to bring that redemption about. As the film's writer and director, Brian Jun demonstrates a nice feel for the look and flavor of the movie's wintry locale and for the tempo and rhythm of the characters' lives.

"Steel City" is sure to get lost in the shuffle of bigger and grander independent and not-so-independent films out there, but the authentic performances - by Guiry, John Heard, Raymond J. Barry, Clayne Crawford, Laurie Metcalf ("Roseanne") and America Ferreira (virtually unrecognizable out of her Ugly Betty get-up) - and sturdy film-making make it a movie well worth checking out.

I thought that Brian Jun's "Steel City" ran a little long, but still came out worth seeing. Focusing on a young man (Tom Guiry) and his brother having to deal with their father's (John Heard) imprisonment, the movie probably could have developed America Ferrera's character further. Raymond J. Barry's character was, in my opinion, the best character in the movie; I interpreted him as a sort of glue binding the rest of the characters - and the story - together.

As I said earlier, the movie runs a little long. Not too long, but they probably could have trimmed at least a few minutes (or maybe I wouldn't think this had they developed America Ferrera's character further). But overall, I think that the movie is worth seeing, if only once.

After a tragic accident caused by the truck of the middle-aged Carl Lee (John Heard) where a woman dies with a crushed stern, he is arrested and sent to the county jail. His son PJ (Thomas Guiry), who works washing dishes and cleaning tables in a restaurant, feels lost, without financial support to keep his father's house, and is fired from his job and evicted from his house. His older brother Ben (Clayne Crawford) is a harder worker in a mill with a little daughter and cheats his wife with a bartender. Ben has open wounds in his relationship with his father and does not visit him in the jail. Carl's brother Vic Lee (Raymond J. Barry) helps PJ bringing him home but demanding discipline and respect. PJ's mother has just left her husband and is living with a policeman. On Christmas, the remorseful Carl forces PJ to keep an overwhelming secret that bonds them.

"Steel City" is a low-budget movie that seems to be a very personal family drama, supported by magnificent performances and solid, simple and credible screenplay about people not well succeeded – losers indeed. A father with remorse for leaving his family has a second chance to redeem himself in behalf of his young son and he sacrifices his freedom to compensate his absence in his childhood and adolescence. Therefore this is a beautiful tale of redemption but never being corny or commercial. On the contrary, most of the characters are not nice, and I dare to say that they are unpleasant with their rude behaviors. Nevertheless "Steel City" is a worthy movie. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Atrás das Grades" ("Behind Bars")

Brian Jun's Steel City is a fantastic, little heard of indie rust belt drama that deals in choices, consequences, regrets and what it takes to heal, if possible. In the heartlands, a young working class man (Tom Guiry) struggles with pretty much every aspect of his life. His father (an understated John Heard) has been recently incarcerated, and it's tearing him apart, as well as his family. His older brother (Clayne Crawford) is a hotheaded mess. He finds solace when his uncle Vic (Raymond J. Barry, superb) offers him work and sobering life advice in equal doses. He meets a wonderful girl played by America Ferrera, and gradually, bit by bit, his story hits an upswing. This is a small story, revolving around a minuscule faction of the big picture, but that's all it is anyways, thousands of lives unfolding on personal scale, adding up to this mosaic we call humanity. Life goes on for him, and the film is but a small window into one transitionary chapter of his life. Guiry is great, but Ferrera is magic as the kind of girl anyone could only hope to end up with. Barry gives one of the most soulful turns of his storied career as the kind of no nonsense mentor who cares a lot more than is visible behind all that gruff. The kind of life affirming story that finds hope in the oddest of places.