What makes a good movie?

The history:

Written by Nick Cassavetes (John Q, The Notebook) also known for sharing writing credits with Denis Leary for the screenplay for the film Blow, it is based on a true story in which a series of events between a team of wayward youngsters inexorably unraveled. . of control. Cassavetes developed his account as a warning, while at the same time allowing the audience to draw their own conclusions about the individuals and morality at stake.

On August 6, 2000, 15-year-old Nick Markowitz was seen shortly after noon, strolling down a road in West Hills, California. The night before he had a run-in with his parents when they discovered drug paraphernalia protruding from his denim pocket. He shot out. His parents, hearing of his return in the middle of the night, resolved to hold any discussion until the next morning. They would never see him again.

The plot:

As events unfold, a group of seemingly voiceless teenagers, Tiko, (Fernando Vargas) Frankie, (Justin Timberlake) and Elvis, (Shawn Hatosy) fall under the spell of their drug dealer friend, Johnny Truelove (Emile Hirsch). To the point that none of them sound the alarm after helping Johnny cross the proverbial line by kidnapping a client’s brother and holding him for the next three days to seek ransom for bad drug debt.

The story flows effortlessly into its own abyss and Cassavetes, who also directed, is to be commended for the conciseness and rigidity of each frame. This tale has all the elements of Greek tragedy. In Greek Tragedy, the word “tragedy” refers primarily to tragic drama: a literary composition written for actors with a central character, a tragic protagonist, or a hero, who suffers a grave misfortune that is neither accidental nor meaningless. It is significant because misfortune is usually related to the actions of the hero. This story has more than one central character. The hero is the young Zack Mazursky, the antagonists: his brother Ben and Ben’s nemesis, the drug dealer Johnny Truelove.

The music:

Backed up by an impeccable and exciting soundtrack specifically designed to enhance the visual impact of the story, it unfolds as if one were watching it from a window as close as the one next door, like Gladys Kravitz in Bewitched. From the opening choruses of Somewhere Over The Rainbow sung poignantly by Eva Cassidy behind home movie footage of various boys and girls, to the pure street beats of Tupac Shakur, the soundtrack has everything in between, including David Bowie. , Paul Bushnell, Citizen. Cope, Lazarus, Mic Holden, Lowd, Tech N9ne, Miredys Piguero & Paul Graham and original work by Aaron Zigman and Nick Cassavetes. This exciting compilation is sure to turn the soundtrack into a music industry winner.

The cast:

Ben Foster plays the older brother and oh so dumb, Ben Mazursky. The acting is brilliant, as tightly controlled as Mazursky is. It’s a riveting portrait of a meth fanatic gone crazy. It takes your breath away by dint of its rapid change from calm to convulsive in a heartbeat. Sometimes the same heartbeat.

Younger brother Zack, (named after Nick Markowitz’s dog, real life victim) is portrayed with an ethereal presence, by Anton Yelchin, (Taken, Jack and Hearts in Atlantis). Radiate goodness and all things innocent. It’s a perfect contrast to the rude and violent teenage chaos that surrounds him: teenagers with too much free time and too much dope in their heads. The girls, who appear in various stages of debauchery, upon discovering that he is being held for ransom, give him the nickname ‘Stolen Child’.

Emile Hirsch, who was phenomenal in his portrayal of Jay Adams in Lords of Dogtown, is equally stellar in his role as Johnny Truelove; Cassavetes is the name of the true story merchant and petty jerk, Jesse James Hollywood. His research on Jay Adams has served him well in this role, as Adam has had numerous run-ins with the law and served time in prison for assault and drug offenses, as well as being a member of the Venice Suicidals street gang.

The role of Jesse James Hollywood star Jesse Rugge, known in the film as Frankie Ballenbacher, was played with a curious sensibility by Justin Timberlake. Lazy and easy-going was the overall character effortlessly introduced by Timberlake. It was incongruous with the key role Rugge played in the three days leading up to the death of a 15-year-old. It can only be assumed that the research that Cassavetes did on his subjects led him to believe that Rugge had simply been out of his mind and, for the sake of appearances, he followed the mischief to the point where he was unable to recant. There are clearly no winners in this story.

As the true story goes, Nick was taken to various houses in Santa Barbara. [Palm Springs is substituted for Santa Barbara in the movie] over the course of three days and often ended up at the Rugge family home. In the film, as in the court transcripts of the case, there was what can only be described as a long traveling party that continued during the course of the kidnapping and took place in the many places they visited, accumulating numerous witnesses to the kidnapped hostage. along its route. In a Los Angeles Times article, Rugge’s father, Baron Rugge (Chris Kinkade) said that “I thought Nick was here to visit.” And that, “when I saw it, I saw it just to say ‘Hello’ and ‘Yes, you can stay here if you want’ ‘.

As with most of the parents portrayed in this film, Older Rugge’s inattention or concern for the comings and goings of his son and his son’s friends is revealing. In the film, Cassavetes points the finger at parents who are too busy partying and clinging to their own wasted youth to be of much use in raising children. Minutes after the movie, Johnny is organizing a major drug purchase through his father Sonny, (Bruce Willis) a supposed underworld figure who hangs out with a withered old crony, Cosmo Gadabeeti, (Harry Dean Stanton) the man. who finally takes care of the mess that Truelove makes. of his life making him disappear. For a moment.

The exception to this is Zack’s mom, Olivia Mazursky. Sharon Stone plays Nick’s real-life mother and Ben’s stepmother, Susan Markowitz. At the end of the film, the Stones candid portrait of a mother’s grief was so intimate that her grief brought tears to my eyes. Maybe it’s because I’m a mother. I applaud his ability to get inside Markowitz’s skin and allow his normally beautiful self to be seen as an overweight middle-aged person with such perfect conviction.

Susan Markowitz, a once-attractive sun blonde, gained 65 pounds during the ordeal of subsequent tests and attempted suicide twice. The camera work on the face in Stone’s final scene is reminiscent of director John Cassavetes’s work with his wife, actress Gena Rowlands, and is equally dazzling.

Probably not by coincidence, Susan, (Dominique Swain) turns out to be the name of the only sane of this group of partiers. His is the only voice of reason that rises up among this group of stoners, oblivious to the trajectory of his lark.

A lark that ended tragically when Elvis Schmidt, (Shawn Hatosy) as convicted murderer Ryan Hoyt, fires a semi-automatic weapon at Zack on the edge of a guarded grave. Hoyt was convicted of shooting Nick in the head and torso nine times with a semi-automatic TEC-9.

In November 2001, he was convicted of first degree murder and is on death row in San Quentin, waiting to die by lethal injection. Jesse Rugge was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole in five years. Two others received brief sentences for their part in the prank.

As in the movie River’s Edge, most of the players who hovered around the flame of this tragedy received a punishment imposed by their own conscience.

You expect him to scream long and loud.