Lymelife

The period family drama is one of those genres where, if you get it right, it works like a charm but, on the other hand if you get it wrong, the result is a boring and pretentious piece of nonsense that is an absolute chore to watch. Perhaps the best of the recent films was Ang Lee's The Ice Storm, a tremendous piece of work with amazing performances throughout and terrific attention to detail to recreate the winter of 1973. In the case of Lymelife, an early shot through one of the character's bedrooms shows a series of Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back memorabilia (including Lego models) and there are frequent references to the possibility of military action in the Falkland Islands so, although the year isn't mentioned, you know you're in the late 1970s or early' '80s.

The film follows Scott Bartlett, a shy teenager who is bullied at school and nicknamed 'Fartlett' by those who are jealous of his father's wealth as his dad, Mickey Bartlett, is a real estate developer who is selling off plots of land and houses on Long Island and estimates that they will be millionaires in a year. Scott is friends with a girl his age in the neighbourhood, Adrianna, who is far more confident and outgoing than him and doesn't mind yelling and swearing at the older kids in school who bully Scott, who she says feels like a younger brother to her.

Adrianna's home life is a bit of a mess as her father, Charlie, has contracted Lyme disease from a tick somewhere in the woods when he was out hunting and, now unemployed, tells his wife, who works for Mickey Bartlett selling homes to rich Indians, that he goes out during the day looking for work when, in fact, he spends all his time in the basement getting high and sketching wildlife that he sees out the window. Meanwhile, Adrianna's mother, Melissa, is busy having an affair with Mickey and, thinking her husband is away somewhere else on Long Island, sleeps with her boss with Charlie covertly looking on.

Lymelife follows in the footsteps of The Ice Storm and American Beauty as a coming-of-age drama set against the backdrop of dysfunctional families and the American dream turning into the American nightmare. The film is apparently semi-autobiographical and loosely based on co-writer/director Derick Martini's teenage years. It has that feel of authenticity that comes with something based on truth and, if it is as personal as the press release claims, then it really shows on the screen.


The film stars not one, but two Culkins, with Rory playing Scott Bartlett and his older brother Jimmy essayed by Kieran Culkin who I last saw in 2002's Igby Goes Down and here, playing a soldier home on leave who may be called into action in the South Atlantic, has changed a hell of a lot in the intervening seven years. Rory Culkin is clearly the best actor on show even with Alec Baldwin and Jill Hennessy playing his parents, Timothy Hutton and Cynthia Nixon as the other two couple and Emma Roberts as the outgoing and feisty love interest Adrianna. All of them give terrific performances with Cynthia Nixon proving there is a great deal more to her than the extremely vacuous lawyer she portrays in the dreadful Sex and the City films.

As I said at the outset, this sort of film can either be a joy to watch or dreadfully pretentious and tedious and, fortunately, this is in the former category as an utterly compelling film with thoroughly believable characters and, even though they are a little out of the ordinary, even the situations seem plausible. There are great comic touches such as the bizarre use of duct tape by Scott's mother Brenda, who pines for life back in Queens, who is now petrified by the thought of a tick giving her son Lyme disease so only allows him to go near the woods with his cuffs and trouser legs taped to his body.

Lymelife is a blackly funny and quirky coming-of-age drama that feels extremely personal. That it reminded me of Ang Lee's The Ice Storm is no surprise as both deal with dysfunctional families in the 1970s and, as Lee's film is a terrific piece of work, so is Derick Martini's directorial debut.


The Disc

Extra Features
Rather disappointingly, there is no commentary or making of documentary -- the latter is perhaps less of a surprise as the film was shot in 22 days, but I would have liked to hear from Derick Martini. The only member of the entire cast and crew who was available for interview was Emma Roberts, who was filmed in London as part of the UK publicity tour and gives a five-minute interview, interspersed with footage from the film, talking about how she became involved, what it was like working with the likes of Alec Baldwin and what her friends and family thought of the film I saw it at the Toronto film Festival.

Apart from that, the only other supplementary material is a stills gallery and the theatrical trailer.


The Picture
Showing that standard definition is far from dead, the picture is sharp, with good colours which showcase the slightly muted palette and excellent period detail, consistent and good skin tones and fine colour and contrast balance.

The Sound
The Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo soundtrack works well enough with this kind of dialogue dominated film in which there are no action sequences or anything else that really makes you feel that you're missing out by having two channels rather than six. All of the dialogue is presented extremely well, with the actors delivering their lines extremely well so, unless you are hard of hearing, there is really no need to put subtitles on which is just as well because there aren't any!

Although this was shot with a small budget, Martini secured the rights to some music that really helps to reinforce the late 1970s/early '80s period (in a similar way to the music in Donnie Darko cementing the 1988 setting) with contributions from The Drifters, Boston and Bad Company to go with some other music by Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Bob Dylan which you don't associate with the late 1970s!


Final Thoughts
Lymelife is a really interesting, funny and involving coming-of-age drama with a superb script, assured direction and great performances by the entire cast, with Rory Culkin and Emma Roberts really standing out. Although the disc is a little on the skimpy side when it comes to special features, this is still a film that those who like American Beauty and The Ice Storm would do well to rent or buy.