Reviewing Movies

As the movie begins a woman is peddling a creaking bike up a steep grade with two flats of eggs in a courier basket; the women collapses and dies, no word on the eggs. The woman in question proves to be Duncan Mudge's mother who dropped dead of a heart attack. Whether the movie feels awkward because of the uncomfortable relationship between widowered father and son or the fact that the direction and acting are just plain bad I can't quite decide. Life on a rural farm can be stifling, forcing one to find companionship and comfort in unlikely places with unlikely people and things--choices are limited. In small communities where everyone knows everything about everybody else and makes it their business, to be "different" can attract unwelcome attention and make one an outsider. Rural agrarian societies tend to be less educated and more conservative in their outlooks. Although protective of their own it is not wise to stand out too starkly.

It is easy to forget that the father is mourning here as well and not coping particularly well. Tom Guiry is almost unrecognizable here as the little kid who joins the crew in The Sandlot. As Duncan’s closest neighbour and erstwhile friend he plays Perry as a swaggering macho kid full of false bravado who attempts to hide the fact that he is being abused by his father. Can’t quite put my finger on it but this movie just leaves me feeling uncomfortable. Whether Duncan is just effeminate and a Mother’s boy or will discover that he truly is homosexual is left hanging.