A remarkable movie. L.I.E. centers on Howie, a 15-year-old boy whose mother recently died in a car accident. Neglected by his father, an unscrupulous contractor who's constantly having sex with his new girlfriend, Howie falls in with a group of boys who break into houses for kicks. After one break-in Howie is caught by Big John (Brian Cox, the original Hannibal Lecter from Manhunter), a former Marine with a taste for young boys. But the relationship that develops between Howie and Big John surprises them both. L.I.E. captures male adolescence more genuinely than any other film in recent memory; the realism of the relationships, particularly between Howie and his father, is completely compelling. The movie affects all the senses; you can practically feel the texture of Howie's blue flannel sheets, smell the greenery that grows along the Long Island Expressway. Amazing performances, vivid direction, smartly written--superb all around. --Bret Fetzer
(20 votes)
2.
The Long Island Expressway, the highway that traverses suburban Long Island with its "lanes moving east, lanes moving west, and lanes that go straight to hell" serves as the central metaphor in this disturbing meditation on coming of age and teenage vulnerability. Howie Blitzer (Paul Franklin Dano) is a sensitive fifteen-year-old who runs with a rough crowd. The recent death of his mother (in a car accident on exit 52 of the L.I.E.) and his father's indifference to it, have left him floating in a world bubbling over with sex, violence, and danger. When his best friend Gary convinces Howie to burglarize the house of their neighbor, 60-year-old Big John (Brian Cox), the tenuous balance of their teenage existence is entirely thrown off. To make matters even worse, Howie's father is arrested over a bad business deal. Howie is left dangling, and only Big John seems to care. A harrowing mixture of tenderness and perversion electrifies the father-son relationship that forms between Howie and Big John. Director Michael Cuesta's touching vision of domestic life in modern-day suburbia is at once humorous and unnerving as it boldly charts one boy's convoluded path through adolescence.
This film screened as part of the 2001 New Directors/New Films series organized by the Film Society of Lincoln Center in New York City.
(19 votes)
3.
Critically acclaimed as one of the top ten films of the year, L.I.E. is an intense coming-of-age story full of surprises and suspense. After his mother's recent death, 15-year-old Howie is headed down a dangerous path. Neglected by his father, a shady contractor with little time for his son, Howie begins ditching school and robbing the local house with his delinquent friends.
One day Howie and his best friend Gary, a con man searching for a way to finance his escape to California, break into the house of an old ex-Marine named Big John (Brian Cox of Manhunter). After Big John approaches Howie about the robbery, Howie discovers the alluring secret that binds his friend and Big John.
When Gary suddenly skips town, and Howie's father is busted by the FBI and taken to jail, Howie is suddenly alone. Can Big John be the paternal figure that Howie needs, or will his predatory instincts prevail?
(18 votes)
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