Pure (**)
review by Jon
Waterman
Paul’s mom is a junkie. Everyone around town seems to
know it, except for him. He cares deeply about his mother;
after all, she’s all that’s left after his father
died. The ten-year old is already used to being mostly independent,
but soon he’ll find himself taking care of the whole
family. Mom’s drug addiction is getting worse, and after
a family friend overdoses, Paul is forced to face reality and
his sole guardian. To avoid being ripped away from her by child
services or grandparents, Paul will do anything and everything
possible to get his mom clean and sober.
The film is artistically directed by Gillies MacKinnon (“Hideous
Kinky”). Keep in mind however that not all art is good.
There’s nothing terribly wrong with it, but it gives
off a definitive glorified student film look. Some of the camera
movement, especially in the beginning, seemed to be there just
to incorporate some camera movements. There’s nothing
here that really adds a particular flavor or mood to the picture.
There’s no discernable atmosphere coming across from
the locations or cinematography. It’s just there.
That’s a good way to describe the film as a whole. A
lot happens, but it doesn’t matter too much either way.
It could have been more heartwarming or uplifting. On the other
side of that, it also could have been more brooding, spiteful,
vengeful and dark. They chose to split the difference, and
it doesn’t pay off. Television writer Alison Hume penned
the decent script. The dialogue avoided a lot of conventions
(although not all…heroin = mommy’s medicine) and
progressed the story along quite naturally and at a nice pace.
It’s not perfect, and the characters are extremely two-dimensional,
but she pulls it off so that it’s not unbearable to watch.
The movie really is just average in just about every way.
They try to throw in some shock value to redeem it or make
the picture stand out in your memory, but the scenes don’t
resonate in the way they want. There’s this strange near
romantic encounter between Paul (played rather well by Harry
Eden) and the waitress he has a crush on (played with no real
impact by Keira Knightly), and later on we see Paul under the
effects of Heroin. Not enough is done cinematically to make
these scenes pop. That same statement can be said about the
movie as a whole. “Pure” is a good title for the
film, since it lacks grit.
respond to jon@filmbrats.com
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