By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Matthew Gordon
Starring: Casey Brown | John Alex Nunner | Joice Baldwin | Patrick Rutherford | William Ruffin
Country: united_states
Year: 2012
Running time: 73
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1738366/
Thom says: “The extraordinary Film Movement series comes through with another winner here and just in time to be included in the Coming-of-Age extravaganza offered by dear Chlotrudis. Anyone seeing this one would be the first to agree. Having already won the Grand Prize at the Deauville Film Festival & the Nashville Film Festival & Best Actor Award for young William Ruffin at Nashville & the Durban International Film Festival hopefully the film will get much deserved attention. 14-year-old Robbie (the outstanding Ruffin in a breakout performance) lives with his younger half-brother Fess and their nearly comatose grandmother during a torpid Mississippi summer. Their wretched mother has fled the homestead after suffering her 19th nervous breakdown leaving Robbie in charge of the family. To make matters worse his older brother Lucas is released from prison and his presence back at home is detestable and ultimately harmful. While Robbie finds himself in a world of trouble at school, within his social set, he gets snubbed, beat-up, & ridiculed; he shows an inner strength of remarkable acclaim. With unbeatable determination he finally talks his way into a summer job at a gasoline service station and while dealing with his journal he needs to complete to graduate to high school, taking care of Fess & his grandmother, he’s dreaming of his mother returning to take care of the family. His brother’s illegal, hare-brained schemes don’t help but a lot of young girls in his community are all attracted to him. Ruffin projects an attractiveness that is totally unaffected but unforgettable. He creates a character that you care about and want good things to happen to. His love for the semi-backwards Fess is palpable. When Lucas gets into more trouble than he can handle and social services intervene Robbie must make decisions that will resonate throughout his life. 5 cats”
Toni says: “I recently saw THE DYNAMITERS on Film Movement streaming since starting to pay for their streaming service and really thought it was great and would have had it high on my coming of age list had I seen it in time. I also found out from the cinematographer that none of the people in the film were real actors prior which is added to the realness of the film.”