Verdict
Summary
The film is vividly portrayed and insightfully written, but the movie leaves us a little cold, and the emotional residue the movie generates is still with us, even days later. Fans of coming of age dramas with the themes it presents may have a special interest in this one. Others may either be charmed or put off by its indie flavor. A curated soundtrack with eclectic songs enhances the flavor of the film.
Plot:
A high schooler engages in an intimate relationship with an older woman whose husband finds out that the kid’s still a minor, causing complications.
Review:
Jeremy (Lucas Friedman) is a dejected 17-year old young man who is trying to reforge his shattered heart after a breakup with the girl he’d hoped to call his girlfriend when he shockingly rebounds in a most unexpected way: He’s at his local second hand record shop when an attractive 30-something woman named Beth (Briana Ratterman) strikes up a conversation with him about a subject he’s very knowledgeable on – records. She makes the first move and asks for his number under the pretense of “talking about records,” but the truth about Beth’s current state of mind is a bit more complex and isn’t easily understood. Frankly, Jeremy (who doesn’t ask too many questions) is blindsided that this charming and pretty sexy woman would come onto him in the way that she does. Here’s how it is: Beth is in a depressive funk in this stage of her life; her husband Steve (Matthew Dibiasio) might’ve been an attentive, loving and adoring husband once upon a time, but now he’s got a wandering eye of his own, and he’s continued to disappoint and crush Beth’s spirit to the point now that it teeters on abuse. The fact that she’s so willing and able to engage in a soon-to-be-intimate relationship with a kid such as Jeremy is testament to the precipice that Beth is teetering on. To put it bluntly, Steve seems dangerous and unstable, the kind of guy who has violence and rage bursting just beyond the force field with which he’s able to maintain on a day-to-day basis, but he’s fit to burst and who knows what this guy is actually capable of? As Beth and Jeremy take their “cute” relationship to the next level, their level of intimacy is transactional in a way that is functional for them both. She gets to feel wanted and desired again by the eyes and heart of a young man unspoiled by life (yet), and he gets a confidence boost and bragging rights with his small social circle. But then the penny drops: Steve shows up at Jeremy’s school when he sees incriminating evidence on his phone that Jeremy and his wife are having an affair, and he awkwardly confronts the kid at school (in a very rushed and unconvincing scene) with threats of exposure, and thus begins a stalking / threatening series of encounters between Beth’s husband and the kid – the snake in the grass – who has become his unhappy wife’s lover. How are these three people going to navigate their way into working out their tricky predicament without destroying each other’s lives any further than they already have?
From writer / director Daniel Hill, Beth + Jeremy and Steve follows the coming of age movie template that was sort of molded in the 60’s by The Graduate where we have an “age gap” between a young, socially maladjusted male protagonist and a sexy, wiser, and willing older female. The formula hit its stride in the ’80s with My Tutor, Private Lessons, and They’re Playing With Fire (among many others), and it crested in the ’90s with The Pallbearer, and Hill’s film, while perfectly cast (especially Ratterman who is the film’s real find), lacks a north star for the characters to look towards, leaving them wandering in the proverbial desert of tangled emotions, even into the muddled conclusion that offers no resolves or satisfaction for viewers expecting a traditional type of ending where everything has been worked out. Beth, a complicated woman, by the end is still a depressed gem of a lady caught up in a bad marriage, and having engaged in an adulterous relationship with a minor, still hasn’t come to any responsible decisions for her future. Steve is still an aggravating, selfish, and creepy guy whose own sins are never properly addressed, and Jeremy, while having had some nice experiences with Beth, doesn’t seem to have gotten any wiser for the troubles Steve has caused him. So what’s next for these three people? Since the film is vividly portrayed and insightfully written, I truly wanted to know, but the movie leaves us a little cold, and the emotional residue the movie generates is still with us, even days later. Fans of coming of age dramas with the themes it presents may have a special interest in this one. Others may either be charmed or put off by its indie flavor. A curated soundtrack with eclectic songs enhances the flavor of the film.
