By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 0 cats
Director: Tim McCann
Starring: Britt Robertson | Dodie Brown | Nick Krause | Ryan Lee | Sam Trammell | Todd McLaren
Country: united_states
Year: 2015
Running time: 90
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2241116
Kyle says: “As someone who believes that right-wing America’s idiotic misinterpretation of the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution is one of the fatal flaws of a system that is mistakenly referred to as a democracy (see any recent interview with Noam Chomsky), I regard it as my civic duty to warn potential viewers about movies like WHITE RABBIT. Or if you’re into school shootings, whose frequency far outnumbers even House Benghazi hearings, at least watch a good version of mass murder, like Gus Van Sant’s ELEPHANT. Additionally I should report that the dead title character talks, and that I prefer my talking rabbits as
comedic (HARVEY) or cosmic (DONNIE DARKO in either its original release or the extended Director’s Cut).
“WHITE RABBIT quotes a dysfunctional family father Darrell (Sam Trammell) thus: ‘It’s just the way life is here. At some point you learn to shoot, just like you learn to walk’. Shortly thereafter, we enter a gun store with his two sons to put a shotgun into the hands of 9-year-old Harlon (Robert Michael Szot). At target practice, Darrell takes two photos of Harlon with his shotgun: one to ‘look proud’ and the other to ‘look mean, like a hunter’. When the titular character is trapped and facing Harlon’s shotgun, Darrell tells him: ‘That’s what the rifle’s for — killing. Stop being a pussy, and pull the trigger’. Harlon is not only bullied by classmates, he is also educationally challenged and ordered to repeat the 11th grade, which will embarrass him even more among his insensitive bullying classmates. He encounters shoplifting substance-abusing free-spirited Julie (Britt Robertson), who teaches him to smoke cigarettes as he teaches her to shoot a gun. They remain just friends, since she prefers the company of Harlon’s chief tormentor. Any questions about where this is heading?
“Actor Nick Krause is handsome, well-built, charismatic, and sensitive. He catches much of the emotional turmoil of Harlon, but he is not really believable as someone who is rejected, manipulated, and victimized. So I cannot think of a single reason to sit through this farrago. 0 cats
“Friday, October 23, 2015, on Netflix, New York”