User Reviews

Sequan is a soft spoken gay teen who is forced to relocate from big city new york where he had lived with his mother, whom one can only assume was accepting of his sexuality. SPOILER When his mother dies and he is forced to live in the rural south where gay teens are not as accepted he is subjected to bullying and sexual and emotional abuse mostly at the hands of his older cousin who he has to share a room with, he becomes tolerant of the abuse while he searches for a way out. SPOILER When a young lady who herself is headed down a path of drugs and destruction, decides to be-friend Sequan, the two of them pull strength from each others weaknesses and find a kind of peace that only they can appreciate in comforting each other. When the young lady introduces her younger brother to Sequan the two immediately hit it off and become friends. The movie does leaves a lot of unanswered questions, but makes the film more realistic. In the real world...everyone has problems, not just the gay guy. I think the writers did a good job walking the fine line to introduce problems of the other characters in to the movie, but not to make them take over the main story line. I do wish we would have gotten more information about Sequans female guardian, I can only assume she was his aunt. The film has a lot of soft touching moments that I found truly amazing to capture on film. SPOILER After one of the most intense abuse scene when Sequan is being sexually and emotionally abused by his cousin and the mother walks in the room and catches the torment her son is putting on Sequan, when she sees Sequans tears in his eyes she turns a blind eye to the abuse and tells the boys to come get dinner. The next morning, beaten,and tired Sequan meets his male friend in a quiet cemetery and they talk about leaving the small town, after light discussion they look at each other and softly kiss, what you think is going to turn into a steamy sexual scene with the start of another kiss actually is an emotionally beaten and tired Sequan laying his bruised head on his friends shoulder...closing his eyes, as if he had finally found someone to lay his burden on. One of the best films I have seen in a while! Review by Nathanial Portis

70 years ago, Shirley Temple played "Heidi" a girl who had to move in with cruel relatives when her beloved Grandfather passes away. So this idea of adapting to a new environment is hardly new. What is interesting (and hard to follow) about this movie is there are so many underdeveloped characters, subplots and themes one hardly knows where this movie is going. Sequan, a Black teenager, has to move to rural Alabama from New York when his mother passes, to live with his Aunt. I think that's who she is. One has no idea why his Aunt is so angry, why his other Uncle beat up his (deceased?) father, why the principal of the high school seems to be portrayed as both a principal and a minister. Another teenager in the group gets killed, related to the drug subculture at the high school, but you never see how or why. He's just dead in the woods later after being missing. It just goes on and on. One unexplained thing after another. Personally, I think this is deliberate to try to inject "mystery" but it just makes a mess. SPOILER SPOILER The box cover shows two teen males kissing, but this is such a short part of the movie, it seems like an afterthought. Supposedly Sequan tries to hide his homosexuality, but everyone in the film has it figured out in the first five or 10 minutes, he is so nerdy and odd. However, the actors do an excellent job, especially Derrick Middleton as Sequan, who conveys a quiet strength while being tormented at home and school. SPOILER about the conclusion: In the end Sequan is shot and instead of rushing him to the hospital, his friends take him to a field where he appears dead, then coughs and his Uncle the Sheriff is now on the scene who picks him up and carries him (towards the squad car?).....the end.