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The United States of Leland

The United States of Leland begins with the fact that a teenager named Leland P. Fitzgerald has murdered his ex-girlfriend's 8-year-old autistic brother. He's the son of a famed author, played by Kevin Spacey, who has not seen him since he was 6 years old. His girlfriend has recently left him for a guy who shares her drug habit. Everyone is trying to find out why Leland killed the boy, especially a teacher in the prison, who smells a good book opportunity that can launch his writing career, when he sees that Leland isn't a lot like the other guys in prison.

The movie focuses on the lives of all of the individual involved, including the grieving family, Leland's estranged parents, Leland's teacher, and his ex-girlfriend. There are several flashbacks that show Leland's relationship with his girlfriend, his relationship with her brother, his childhood, etc.

I really liked the direction, the acting, and the mood of this movie. Its object was not to teach the audience about love and sadness, but to muse about them. But it mused almost to the point of nausea, and to the point of forgetting that someone was murdered. It was almost like watching American Beauty, only this could have been called American Sadness. There's a kind of odd male teenager who looks at the world differently, only in this movie, Leland picks up on the sadness of everyone in the world.

I don't know. I liked a lot about the movie, but was irked by how messy it got with emotions and morality. Musing about love and sadness doesn't make a person's wrong actions acceptable. And by the end, I didn't know what the heck they were even musing about. I'd recommend it I guess.

Posted by wendytime at April 13, 2004 01:39 PM | TrackBack