A superb meditation on the childhood minset (Mean Creek (DVD))

Member Name: shaneo632

Product:	Mean Creek (DVD)
Date:	28/07/09 (4 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great acting and script

Disadvantages: None

note: also appears in part on The Student Room

If a kid bullies another kid, and then a teacher asks him why he did it, so often will he respond with "I don't know". Mean Creek explores how cruelty is an extremely casual act in many youths, and whilst it doesn't really probe why (although offers a few subtle hints), it effectively places us in the shoes of a parent figure, unknowing why these things happen, and simply trying to control the damage afterwards. Mean Creek is a supremely well crafted drama that features a superb cast of yougsters, and all in all is a scintilating meditation on morality.

The film begins with Sam (Rory Culkin), a small, scrawny, shy young boy, who admits to his brother Rocky (Trevor Morgan) that he's being bullied at school by a large dyslexic boy named George (Josh Peck). Thus, they, along with Clyde (Ryan Kelley), a well meaning and pleasant boy, Marty (Scott Mechlowicz), a young man who acts out because he has two gay parents, and Millie (Carly Schroeder), Sam's love interest, invite George out to the creek to go fishing, but in fact it is a daring ploy to get their own back by pushing him in the creek and humiliating him. However, things go terribly wrong, and the kids are left with a body in the creek that they pushed in there.

This is a supremely mature film that really has a voice for its characters, and delivers its plot in a mesmerising, almost noirish fashion that is by all turns tragic and insightful. It offers no easy answers because there are none - simply that children are temperamental as they attempt the awkward transition into adulthood.

Mean Creek is a disquieting morality tale, which considers the nature of bullying with eloquence and intelligence. However, what renders it distinct from similar films is the depth of its characters. Wonderfully shot and scored, the film also displays a promising array of young talent at their best.

Summary: A superb, Oscar-worthy drama