10,000 Saints (2015)

Touches You

So much average

Just what I expected

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

Great re-creation of fragility of relationships in a late-80s mainly NY setting. Performances and direction are first-class. (Watched 8/'16)

I really enjoyed this movie, yes pretty much everyone in it is screwed up but it's also very realistic. Their depiction of bored boys in Vermont in the 1980s is dead on. What happens after is very interesting with the East Village, CBGBs and the relationships and how they progress. I recommend this movie and had no problem "figuring out" who was adopted etc. Then again, I like movies that don't spoon feed everything. I'm suppose to write 10 lines of text but don't want to include any spoilers. All the actors did a great job, especially Ethan Hawke and I love seeing Julianne Nicholson again in a movie. She is such a natural actress. I wasn't big on the actress who played the rich New York mother, however.

The filmmakers here, Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini (American Splendor, The Extra Man) throw in too many plot machinations and go in too many directions, in my opinion, which dilute the intensity of this indie drama. As a result, the characters here come across as rather cardboard-like and clichéd, and I was unable to really connect emotionally or care much about them.Set in the 1980's in Vermont and New York City, the movie does have an all-star cast which includes Ethan Hawke, Asa Butterfield, Hailee Steinfeld, Emily Mortimer, and Julianne Nicholson. I did think that they each portrayed their individual characters quite well.However, without going into too many plot elements, let me put my "moral police hat" on and say I think the film went over-the-top with its rampant depictions of drug use, which included a drug-dealer father (Hawke) enticing and offering his son (Butterfield) drugs. This is right after his son's best friend OD'd in front of him, and after his son was already getting high on weed, turpentine, mushrooms, and Freon. Thus, between the drug use, the promiscuousness, teen pregnancy, and other plot elements, it was hard to really like any of these characters.Overall, a mixed bag here as the acting was strong but just too many contrived and unlikable characters and plot elements going in too many directions to win me over completely.

OverviewWith the death of one boy comes a baby and many lives changed forever, and this film is about the guilt which inspires many people's decisions over the course of 9 months. Characters & StoryOn New Year's Eve in 1987, two children's lives changed forever. Teddy (Avan Jogia) died, and Jude (Asa Butterfield) and Eliza (Hailee Steinfeld) have to live with the guilt and consequences of that night. Which isn't solely them both playing a role in his death, with Eliza giving him coke and Jude having him huff Freon, among other things, but the fact he left a baby in Eliza's belly. Thus being the main plot of the film. One dealing with everyone's guilt over what they did or didn't do for Teddy; what they didn't do for their own children; and everyone trying to use that baby as some means of redemption. All the while, Jude tries to mend things with his father Les (Ethan Hawke), and Johnny (Emile Hirsch) tries to be there for Teddy's and perhaps convince himself he is something he isn't.PraisePerhaps the beauty of this film is that as much as it has the opportunity to be over the top, considering it features drug users, upper middle class New Yorkers, and a small town in Vermont, it is rather tame. Granted, watching Jude and Teddy do drugs like they did seemed strange, but only because it really did seem like, at first, the film was going to be about two high school guys trying to get laid, do drugs, and slack off into finals.However, with the death of Teddy comes a slight shock to the system, alongside Eliza being pregnant. And while there aren't any strong emotional moments, in terms of Eliza contemplating an abortion, or seeing Jude and his dad bond, at the same time every moment feels quite satisfying. For, overall, it has the feel of a television program. One which, if ABC Family actually ever planned for their shows to end, would fit just right on the channel. I mean, they would probably have to tone down, or eliminate, the drug use, but otherwise 10000 Saints would have been a good miniseries. CriticismAnd the reason I say the movie would have been a good mini-series is because it drops the ball on so many story lines. For one, despite Les pretty much abandoning Jude and his sister Prudence (Nadia Alexander), pretty much only Jude gets any quality time with his dad. Thus leaving Prudence without her own time to address how she felt about her dad leaving, much less taking up all this time with Jude and not even calling her. Alongside that, while Teddy's death is a well- established turning point, it is weird we never hear what happened to his mom after the funeral. Much less, it is sort of weird that when Johnny, Teddy's brother, learns that Eliza and Teddy played a role in his brother's death, his whole "namaste" way of being completely leads to not a bit of ill will against either of them.Though the ball being dropped doesn't end there. There is also the topic of Jude being adopted, and him never looking for his parents, despite Les letting him know they are somewhere in New York, and the film having a scene in the hospital where he is born; us not getting to know Ravi, Teddy's dad, who wants to possibly adopt Eliza's baby, to make up for not being in Teddy's life; and there are a slew of other stories which really make it seem that this movie had more ideas than it had time, or committed effort.Overall: TV ViewingWhile what is given by 10000 Saints is adequate, all the story lines which never are given any focus sort of handicap the film. For while Steinfeld and Butterfield do keep your attention, with Hawke and Hirsch helping, there are times when it seems there are roads not traveled that certainly should have been. Especially the one dealing with Jude being adopted for with Eliza so unsure of what she may do with her baby, it seemed like Jude's discovery of his own parents could have made Eliza's ultimate decision a bit more meaningful. Alas, many interesting story lines, like that one, are just talked about and not explored, and that is the main reason for this being labeled TV Viewing. The teases are all just to great, and what is ultimately delivered just doesn't compare to the many possibilities you get presented with, or the odd things in the movie which get ignored.