I told my dad he wouldn't enjoy this film; it basically has young kids screaming at each other and cursing all the time. That's not a nice thing for a parent to watch, that's not a nice thing for anyone to watch actually, but the thing is the characters are my age. The parties they organize are not a lot different from the ones I go to; sometimes everything stays in control but other times it gets out of our hands.
When we first see a frame in "Alpha Dog" it's Bruce Willis sitting on a chair, being irreverent as only he can be, while he answers some questions about his son. This is when we realize that something happened and we're going to experience it The camera welcomes us to the world of Johnny Truelove, played by Emile Hirsch as if he doesn't care about anything and as if he knows it all. He doesn't, but he bosses his friends around; mostly Elvis (Shawn Hatosy) who does everything Truelove asks him to do.
The thing is Truelove has the drugs, so Truelove has the power. Everybody comes to ask him for more merchandise; he goes to his father (the Willis character). Everybody owes him cash; but Jake Mazursky owes him big time. Mazursky is portrayed perfectly by Ben Foster, another solid actor in a cast of young talents. Foster may not have worked as much as his peers, but he definitely made the right choices: he co-starred with Hirsch in "The Mudge Boy" (the chemistry is visible here); he surpassed himself with his comedic lead in "Get over it" and he amazed everyone with his turn in "Mystic River", among other things.
We meet Jake entering his family house, where his father (David Thornton) lives with a new woman, Olivia (Sharon Stone) who gave birth to his brother, Zack (Anton Yelchin). It seems that Jake comes and goes as he pleases, grabs some food and asks his father for money, which is a problem for Olivia, who knows the boy is on drugs; his father also knows, but appears to be more understanding.
Mazursky does not get the money, and what happens because of it consist in the development of the film; that unexpectedly starts putting titles on screen as: 'Day One', '9:15 a.m.'. From the beginning, Nick Cassavetes imposes his style to the picture. Taking a complete turn from "The Notebook", the writer/director chooses a camera with a small amount of light (the man Robert Fraisse), that doesn't let us see important things at times. Uncertain and personal, he divides the screen in two at the most surprising moments.
His screenplay, inspired by true events, must have also had something of his own life. I'm not saying he was on drugs, but the way the characters talk is annoying, nevertheless true and accurate. But something fails in the story; maybe it's too long and it doesn't move on. It seems like an eternity and it looses focus. Anyway, Cassavetes' best achievement with "Alpha Dog" is unquestionably the direction of actors. An ensemble with A-list stars and independent greats; a big cast to handle A lot of young actors.
"The O.C's" Olivia Wilde, Chris Marquette (from "The Girl Next Door"), Amanda Seyfried (from "Mean Girls"), an unrecognizable Harry Dean Stanton, the inconstant but good Dominique Swain, and Justin Timberlake. As Truelove's right hand Frankie, Timberlake gets the best performance of the cast. Forget N'sync, forget his music, just watching constructing his character and making it a human being. It's hard to explain but the singer is really the only actor who gets some true emotion out of his lines.
When we first see a frame in "Alpha Dog" it's Bruce Willis sitting on a chair, being irreverent as only he can be, while he answers some questions about his son. This is when we realize that something happened and we're going to experience it The camera welcomes us to the world of Johnny Truelove, played by Emile Hirsch as if he doesn't care about anything and as if he knows it all. He doesn't, but he bosses his friends around; mostly Elvis (Shawn Hatosy) who does everything Truelove asks him to do.
The thing is Truelove has the drugs, so Truelove has the power. Everybody comes to ask him for more merchandise; he goes to his father (the Willis character). Everybody owes him cash; but Jake Mazursky owes him big time. Mazursky is portrayed perfectly by Ben Foster, another solid actor in a cast of young talents. Foster may not have worked as much as his peers, but he definitely made the right choices: he co-starred with Hirsch in "The Mudge Boy" (the chemistry is visible here); he surpassed himself with his comedic lead in "Get over it" and he amazed everyone with his turn in "Mystic River", among other things.
We meet Jake entering his family house, where his father (David Thornton) lives with a new woman, Olivia (Sharon Stone) who gave birth to his brother, Zack (Anton Yelchin). It seems that Jake comes and goes as he pleases, grabs some food and asks his father for money, which is a problem for Olivia, who knows the boy is on drugs; his father also knows, but appears to be more understanding.
Mazursky does not get the money, and what happens because of it consist in the development of the film; that unexpectedly starts putting titles on screen as: 'Day One', '9:15 a.m.'. From the beginning, Nick Cassavetes imposes his style to the picture. Taking a complete turn from "The Notebook", the writer/director chooses a camera with a small amount of light (the man Robert Fraisse), that doesn't let us see important things at times. Uncertain and personal, he divides the screen in two at the most surprising moments.
His screenplay, inspired by true events, must have also had something of his own life. I'm not saying he was on drugs, but the way the characters talk is annoying, nevertheless true and accurate. But something fails in the story; maybe it's too long and it doesn't move on. It seems like an eternity and it looses focus. Anyway, Cassavetes' best achievement with "Alpha Dog" is unquestionably the direction of actors. An ensemble with A-list stars and independent greats; a big cast to handle A lot of young actors.
"The O.C's" Olivia Wilde, Chris Marquette (from "The Girl Next Door"), Amanda Seyfried (from "Mean Girls"), an unrecognizable Harry Dean Stanton, the inconstant but good Dominique Swain, and Justin Timberlake. As Truelove's right hand Frankie, Timberlake gets the best performance of the cast. Forget N'sync, forget his music, just watching constructing his character and making it a human being. It's hard to explain but the singer is really the only actor who gets some true emotion out of his lines.