I watched a terrific movie called S**those yesterday. If you have kids in college like my daughter or if you like well written scripts about the nuances of relationships both intimate and with family, this one delivers.
The plot is an awkward young man who is a Freshman at college trying to live. He comes from a super close family who isn’t finding his way socially or emotionally.
He ends up taking an evening journey with his sophomore RA that is connecting and rich.
Without giving away too much about it, literally the next morning as feelings arise, the relationship takes a hard, cold turn. He goes from finally starting to feel into his college experience back into the awkward, lost young man.
I’ve never heard of or seen either of the main characters in a movie. Cooper Raif (who also wrote and directed it) plays Alex and Dylan Gelula plays Maggie the sophomore RA.
Part of their journey that night has a bit of Garden State plotline to it, but it strings way more naturally into the story.
Here’s the deal. If you have a kid in college like I do, the portrayal of the nervousness and confusion of the college experience is spectacular.
In particular, the two characters have different parental contexts BOTH of which have complications. Alex comes from a family that he is TOO connected to, also known as enmeshment. Maggie comes from a home that included a father who all but abandoned her post divorce.
The way the script handles the implications of unaddressed wounds from both relationships is deeply moving. There’s a climactic scene between Alex and his family that had me in tears. It touches on that jumping off point into life for a young person yearning to become his own person while scared beyond belief of what that looks like.
There’s an end scene where you see that he’s become that man and is about to enter an intimate relationship in a way that’s adult. He states his desires and needs in a way that filled my heart.
Maggie’s character has a plotline that includes a very frank look at sex in a way that is provocative and very well done.
The movie also addresses social media briefly but VERY effectively from different perspectives.
I yearn for more and more movies that have depth to help me see the same issues from different perspectives. It’s my desire to see more Ordinary People type movies.
Granted the film sensationalizes certain plotlines but it does so in service of presenting certain points of view that are SO important to discuss.
At some point I may take the leap and really try to write a story if for nothing else with the hope that a work that I create can impact me in the way this one impacted me.