Set in the early 1990s, "As You Are" is the telling and retelling of a relationship between three teenagers as it traces the course of their friendship through a construction of disparate memories prompted by a police investigation.
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Reviews
Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.
Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay
It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.
The acting in this movie is really good.
I agree in big part with most of the other reviews. The movie is well done and the director's hand is almost a character that sits next to us throughout the film and guides our eyes to where he wants us to look. The script was fantastic, the dialogue was very well paced and didn't feel plastic, and the acting was excellent. The budding relationship between the two sons was telegraphed so it was no big surprise but I must say I was a bit disappointed by the ending (in whichever form you interpret it... was it murder, was it accidental manslaughter, or was is suicide?). Leaving the ending open felt for me like taking away from the characters' personality, almost like providing no closure for them
Miles Joris-Peyrafitte does a spectacular job in conveying the complex emotions of his teenage characters. The film does its best to relate to viewers while also making them largely uncomfortable; in the best way possible for the story. While it does follow in the traditional route most LGBT coming-of-age movies in their ways of sadness and struggle with self-acceptance, it does so rather tastefully.However, it does seem that I am one of the few folks who enjoy the way the movie has split up its time-line. Similar to Dunkirk, the director makes a bold choice in shifting between the present interviews and past memories. This makes what viewers tend to believe as the climax or "end of the story" a prevalent force throughout. While I do agree that the foreshadowing could have been done with just a tad more mystery, I do not believe that doing so was what the cast intended with the story. Therefore, I feel there should be a respect for the decision to leave the ending so raw and out in the open.As it begins, As You Are opens wounds and has you hoping for even more heart-warming moments but leaves you glad it is done exactly the way it is. It truly opens discussions on many topics and while not necessarily happy, the film touches its audience with its profound messages. This film is definitely worth the watch.
Even with taking note that this is not playing at your local theater, meaning you have to make an effort to see this, I feel even if it was accessible I would have mixed feelings. For while I love loved the characters, loved the plot dealing with Mark and Jack's experimenting, as well as the complicated relationship Mark and Tom have, the way the police investigation is used honestly ruins the movie. For while you understand the purpose is to present intrigue through foreshadowing, you may feel, like I did, that there were probably better ways to execute this story. So while you have to commend Joris-Peyrafitte for this being his first film, you can see that he needs to learn why the adage "Less is more" isn't as much a cliché as it is sound advice.
When I saw the trailer, I thought the story they were suggesting was compelling enough to go see it. Then I see the movie and come to realize what the trailer was selling was only the tip of the ice berg on how rich and intelligent this film is. It's rare that a trailer that only shows one layer of the film has a movie that still has many good layers to see, and has a great story that was not fully reveled in the trailer.First and foremost, it's a coming of age story about Jack, whose an awkward teenager living in a small town in the mid-90s going through that phase of trying to find yourself (Somewhat with the words of Kurt Corbain. hence the title). Then he finds a companion in Mark, someone going through the same thing, making him easy to talk to. This part of the movie is done perfectly. It's the part most, if not all of us can relate to. Then Mark and Jack's relationship gets complicated as they explore a part of it that's beyond friendship.Adding to the complexity is Sarah, a girl who completes a tribunal of friendship as she likes both boys equally(but does gravitate more towards one over the other), and Mark's dad Tom whose courting Jack's mom, who comes off as a well meaning man whose too hard on Mark and too macho to be of any good to either teenage boy.And as interesting as this layered story is there is also the layer that goes over gun control. Filmed as a flashback of the characters being integrated by a police officer, the movie does spark an interesting conversation over guns. It literally goes from a innocent scene of a man teaching youths how to properly handle firearms to bringing up an issue of how harmful a gun can be in emotional unstable hands.As You Are is a great film. It's the type of movie that's real relatable on a lot of levels and it makes you want to talk about it (Very Similar to the band and the type of music the characters listen to in the film). One of my favorite coming of age stories.http://cinemagardens.com/