arrowhead12272

But and there is a big BUT here, it is a far inferior story than Martini's "Lymelife", which I have also recently seen. Lymelife drove me to this movie with very high expectations. Maybe too high? It actually pained me to watch the flaws in Hick directly after viewing "Lymelife". I do not regret discovering this director's work and I do not regret seeing "Hick". I just felt like the (for lack of a better word) "scenarios" in "Hick" were wildly far- fetched. Like "Lymelife", Martini pulls magnificent performances from all of his cast. Juliette Lewis for instance is stuck playing a role that is so not even close to the reality of what a bad mother is but Martini plays to her strengths and. like the rest of the cast, creates more enigmatic characters, which feels like a director straining to "sell" characters that don't work. It's a noble effort, and it shockingly succeeds in most cases. Take Chloe Moretz as Luli. It's her story. The director makes it very clear that it is hers and only hers so you are forced to see other people how she sees them. Which is ambiguous. That's where it works best. Where it fails is when you understand all too clearly who these people are supposed to be as written. Simply, they are poorly written and when push comes to shove, there's only so much a director, cinematographer and great soundtrack can do to save the day. Again, Hick is not without merits, and it is strikingly emotional and beautifully done at times. Especially the work of Eddie and Luli and Glenda. Martini has a gift with actors, but he has to recognize that without the proper writing, he cannot win. I was not shocked to see that this was not his material, but that doesn't get him a "pass". As shown in "Lymelife", he is a writer comparable to a young Kenneth Lonergan and to me that makes the end result of this movie even more unacceptable. I except much better.

Surprisingly this film went too far under my radar in 2009. I recently had the chance to see it and it is quite possibly one of the best coming of age films since "Stand By Me". I see lots and lots of movies. It is my favorite thing to do. I am usually pretty hard on them, but I was hypnotized by the general flow of Lymelife. It is not revolutionary or gimmicky like a lot of "indie" films. It's pretty straight forward and brutally honest. It deal with life, divorce, fist time sex, bullying, transference of parental anxieties onto children. An extremely smart script and a more impressive directorial debut by Derick Martini, who wrote the script. The performances are razor sharp all around and it really stamps that Martini has a distinct and unique voice all his own. I have "Hick", his follow up on my list and will be watching it shortly. Overlooked performance of 2009? Timothy Hutton as the cuckoled husband to Cynthia Nixon. Oscar worthy.

Edit: I have now seen Martini's Hick and note that "Lymelife" is the superior of the two. Hick has its merits and is moving at times, but the script is not as good as "Lymelife". It's worth watching for the acting though.

I'm sure everyone knows the story by now. The only reason I gave it a 7 and not a 9 or 10 was because I am a Game Of Thrones fan and they make 60 minutes feel as epic as Snow White felt. It probably isn't fair because Game Of Thrones is the best television available today, but I could't help feeling like Snow White should have topped it.

With that out of the way, I did not like Kristen Stewart's performance in the Twilight series, which I credit mostly to the poorly written scripts. In Show White she actually has a good script, and she completely shocked me. She didn't simply have that blank look she always has in Twilight, she was believable in every single moment. Theron was perfectly over the top. The rest of the cast is good. I completely forgot that they shrunk actors into the dwarf roles with CGI. It was perfectly done. I could't tell if they were setting up for a equal, but I'd definitely see it if they were.

Overall it's well worth it.