B+


It's a harrowing, harsh drama based on a true-life story (read here for more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gertrude_Baniszewski" target="_blank) that is too shocking to believe. It's a an important film that shows us that evil iurks within all of us and it just takes the right catalysis to be unleashed. While I have seen far more brutal films at this year's festival this one was the hardest to watch because of its realistic depiction o0f torture the young Sylvia Likens had to endure.

The stand-out of the film is Catherine Keener with her brace performance as Gertrude. If there's any justice, he'll be up for an Oscar nom this year. She played her role perfectly, never justifying her character's actions never showing her as a victim and yet, never really villifying her. Ellen Page who hugely surprised me with her great turn in Hard Candy is sadly underused here. All she does is staring wide-eyed and innocently. The courtroom scenes also distract a bit from the main plot a bit, but the final ones work very well in conveying the film's message. The torture in the film is toned down in comparison to the real life events and is shown in a non-exploitative manner. Overall, it works as a good drama with a stand-out performance by Keener.

Do you think it's Oscar-baity and quality enough to garner BP attention?

Keener'd deserve it for sure and it is a meaty role. True life aspect helps it too. The film..probably not. Too small and a cruel...

But...last thing I heard, it might be going straight to DVD because the distributor has some problems...bleh.

Caught this on cable tonight.

I knew details of the true story beforehand, but it was really an extremely unsettling movie. Hard to watch, really. Catherine Keener was absolutely outstanding in her brave performance. I would totally put her on a shortlist for an Oscar nomination, but I guess it would have to be an Emmy nom since the movie premiered on cable. Ellen Page (pre-Juno), as weird as this sounds, just has less to do as a result of the movie's premise, but was still effective. Overall, this was a bleak, harrowing look at the dark side of human nature. B+

A harrowing and deeply effective film. At times the direction felt a bit amateurish, but the performances were excellent and really chilling. Catherine Keener delivers a powerhouse performance and is terrifying in the role. Ellen Page also plays against type and is great as the doomed teen. This film definitely got under my skin and I'll likely not soon forget it. A-

AN AMERICAN CRIME - 8/10 (A-)

It's not as hard to watch as THE GIRL NEXT DOOR, which is based on the same crime. They played down the events that took place with this film, which is probably a good thing or it may have been seen as exploitative. After having to endure that film, this one came off as relatively easy to watch. It's still disturbing, but nothing like that movie. AN AMERICAN CRIME is the better film though, and the performances are great, especially by Keener.

This deserved a theatrical release.

I had a hard time sit through this one. In fact, I was so angry all the time while watching this film. God, what a world we're living in.