I don't remember why I ordered this movie from Netflix, but it turned out to be on a whole other level from what I expected. And this surprise is what several reviewers have already mentioned.
My neighbor and I watched it together and found our views very similar. I don't need to go into the plot as it was well covered in other reviews, but I wanted to add these particular notes.
(1) I was at first concerned that the film would have the teacher-pupil relationship become sticky. I suppose I wouldn't have minded, but the story has been done so many times. It was delightfully refreshing to have the teacher act like a real teacher would with Emerson.
(2) The movie was easy to understand, and identify with, showing parallel stories of everyone going through their own sea-churning bouts of relationship trips. This was handled so well. What we particularly liked was that the writers/director felt no need to over indulge their scenarios with dialogue that the viewers already knew. An example of this feature was when the police came after one of the characters and this was explained simply by showing lights flashing through a door.
(3) In this vein, therefore, it was truly delightful to get to the end of the movie and to have all the loose ends tied up in one scene! We loved that particularly. Instead of going through all the repetitive scenes of how Aaron deals with his parents or his crush, he is depicted in a scene which shows us that he is coping with the normal ebbs and flows of growing up. And then, through one smile about tea bags, another relationship is redefined. Perfect.
Needless to say, we loved everyone in the cast, but Aaron did stand out. We hope he continues to bring his boyish maturity to the new roles he will doubtless be offered.
My neighbor and I watched it together and found our views very similar. I don't need to go into the plot as it was well covered in other reviews, but I wanted to add these particular notes.
(1) I was at first concerned that the film would have the teacher-pupil relationship become sticky. I suppose I wouldn't have minded, but the story has been done so many times. It was delightfully refreshing to have the teacher act like a real teacher would with Emerson.
(2) The movie was easy to understand, and identify with, showing parallel stories of everyone going through their own sea-churning bouts of relationship trips. This was handled so well. What we particularly liked was that the writers/director felt no need to over indulge their scenarios with dialogue that the viewers already knew. An example of this feature was when the police came after one of the characters and this was explained simply by showing lights flashing through a door.
(3) In this vein, therefore, it was truly delightful to get to the end of the movie and to have all the loose ends tied up in one scene! We loved that particularly. Instead of going through all the repetitive scenes of how Aaron deals with his parents or his crush, he is depicted in a scene which shows us that he is coping with the normal ebbs and flows of growing up. And then, through one smile about tea bags, another relationship is redefined. Perfect.
Needless to say, we loved everyone in the cast, but Aaron did stand out. We hope he continues to bring his boyish maturity to the new roles he will doubtless be offered.