The United States of Leland (2003)
Directed by Matthew Ryan Hoge
A withdrawn young man, Leland Fitzgerald is imprisoned for the murder of a mentally disabled boy, who also happened to be the brother of his girlfriend, Becky. As the community struggles to deal with the killing, Pearl Madison, a teacher at the prison, decides to write about Leland's case. Meanwhile, others affected by the murder, including Becky and her sister, Julie, must contend with their own problems.
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In this way Hoge�s film echoes everything from the films of Larry Clark (Kids, Bully, Ken Park), all of which deal with young people adrift on a turbulent ethical and emotional sea, to Rafal Zielinski�s little-seen 1994 film Fun, which also took inexplicable teenage rage to new places.
In this way Hoge�s film echoes everything from the films of Larry Clark (Kids, Bully, Ken Park), all of which deal with young people adrift on a turbulent ethical and emotional sea, to Rafal Zielinski�s little-seen 1994 film Fun, which also took inexplicable teenage rage to new places.
Maybe I’ve seen too many Gyllenhaal movies, but Leland’s slightly hunched posture and quizzical facial expression, indicative of a familiar detached dreaminess, recalls indie prince Jake constantly, right down to the casting of go-to indie girlfriend Jena Malone as Becky (who acted alongside Gyllenhaal in Donnie Darko ).
Possibly the most egregious indie of the last five years, this self-important creation casts Ryan Gosling as some kind of social retard (sporting Jake Gyllenhaal's Donnie Darko hairdo and girlfriend) accused of killing a mentally handicapped boy.