From the opening of this film you are propelled into the vibrant world of its main protagonists, three pre-teenage mixed race brothers. Their energy is palpable, so skilfully and beautifully captured by the handheld 16mm cinematography of Zack Mulligan, echoing the visual style of Emmanuel Lubinski. Its director, Jeremiah Zager, has clearly been inspired by the work of Terrence Malick and uses dreamy voice-over narration, and many scenes captured during the golden dappled light of the magic hour.
But the film has a wonderful addition, the use of scratchy hand-drawn stop frame animation. It punctuates the story and is derived from the youngest brother's personal journal that he secretly writes and draws each night, hiding it under the springs of the mattress.
His jottings and drawings express his inner feelings about his life, family, brutality, dreams, sexual awakenings and his imaginings. And it is through him that the story of this close-knit family is told.
Set in a poor rural area of New York in the 90s, the three brothers are the product of a white mother and macho Puerto Rican father who takes any job he can to hold the family together. But the endless tension of poverty regularly ignites into arguments and violence with his wife, causing him to leave and return after a few months. During these periods the boy's mother takes to her bed depressed, and everything slides. The boys are left to fend for themselves becoming ever more feral, stealing from the local store and farms. And in hyped up with anger they throw rocks at passing cars. Their father, as always, eventually returns home and takes a job as a night watchman at a local factory. But there are occasions when he has to cart the boys along with him as their mother works nights at the local bottling factory. The inevitable happens, he is caught and fired. Their pickup truck breaks down. They are towed home and the boys witness their strong macho father reduced to a sobbing wreck. It is a painful moment and the realisation that their dad is not their great hero, but just an ordinary man.
If for a moment, you think beyond the end of this film, it would seem inevitable that these three boys will be trapped in an endless world of poverty and ultimately through all the golden sunlight and wild freedom of these three, 'alive' young boys, the future is very bleak.
This is documentary film-maker Jeremiah Zagar's first feature and he has managed to convincingly capture a genuine feeling of childhood with a poetic quality, helped by staggering performances from the three young non-actors who are just incredible. And the drive of the film is greatly enhanced by the music of Nick Zammuto.
See the trailer here.