The United States of Leland
IronWatcher

Review by IronWatcher Pro

The United States of Leland

2003
★★★½

Watched 18 Nov 2018

Watched on Amazon Prime

I've never heard of this movie before, but the premise associated with the great cast sounded exciting. I was expecting a mix of the first season The Sinner and Dangerous Minds. What I got was a little different.

The film does not focus on clarifying a crime or the causes of violence, but on the emotional world of the perpetrator, who has been established from the beginning, and the impact that his act has on the relatives of the victim. What reasons the teenager had, one is not obviously informed. As a viewer, you have to develop your own opinion.

The consistently strong performances (especially Ryan Gosling) distract a little bit from the fact that the film is overall a bit unfocused and treated quite a few topics at once.

In addition to the different ways in which the killed boy's family members cope with their traumas, the medial desires that arouse such a crime are represented by the prison teacher embodied by Don Cheadle.

The film is altogether quite depressing, but relatively unusual in its own way of evaluation of such a crime.

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