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2011, 10-25:
Review of film: “NORMAN”
This 99-minute R-rated movie was directed by JONATHAN SEGAL...
... Before seeing the movie which was described as a “comedy”, I was a bit “LEERY” about it in that the synopsis made it sound somewhat uncomfortably “WEIRD” if not downright “screwy”...
... But, when I saw it, I found the essence of it was considerably “DEEPER” than the impression given by the general “plot” description:
... Norman Long (DAN BYRD) has had a very HARD time lately: his mother had recently DIED in a CAR crash (which has made him uneager to drive any vehicle), & he’s become a quite troubled young man...
... He lives with his doctor father Doug (RICHARD JENKINS). We soon see that he takes CARE of his dad, because Richard is suffering from STOMACH CANCER & seemingly has only MONTHS left to live...
... Dan in time goes WITH Richard when he drives to the hospital...
... Dan wants him to agree to try some more CHEMO treatments, but Richard feels that’s useless & spends most of his time weakly LAYING around the house, with no energy to “do” much of anything...
... Adding to all that is the fact that Dan is somewhat “nerdy”, & he has few real FRIENDS in the world. His one real buddy, James (BILLY LUSH), regularly DRIVES Dan to school to be helpful to him...
... But 17-year-old Dan is a basically reticent guy who’s uncomfortable with TALKING about his OWN life, & he’s never even TOLD Billy about the difficulties his dad was going thru...
... At school, Dan doesn’t particularly “FIT-IN”, & he at one point tells his dad that he gets “BEATEN-UP” at times there...
... In a school class, he’s very reluctant to answer a studies question posed to him by his teacher, Mr. Angelo (ADAM GOLDBERG)...
... When Dan finally replies & talks about how life just seems to be a journey of “birth to DEATH”, not knowing his student’s “situation”, Adam comments on how Dan comes across as having a very “BLEAK” outlook...
... While going thru the school hallways at one point, Dan accidentally bumps into a cute new girl there named Emily Parrish (EMILY VANCAMP, who’d starred in the TV show “EVERWOOD” as Amy Abbott)...
... Dan is clearly “taken” with how nice she looks , & promptly works to help her PICK-UP her books which’d fallen on the floor...
... As she walks away to hurry to her next class, he talks to himself about how she never even thanked him-- but then she surprises him by coming back & very warmly DOING just that (which impresses him a lot)...
... Since Dan is fairly SHY & lonely, he is very happy when Emily goes out of her way to TALK to him after that, & pleased she enjoys his kidding-along with words from a MONTY PYTHON skit which she also enjoys...
... At one point in their relationship, he tells her he had a past history of trying to physically HURT (= cut) himself due to general unhappiness in life-- but she doesn’t seem to realize he’s being TRUTHFUL in his words (sort of taking them as a sarcastic “joke” on his part)...
... Dan keeps growing ever more upset at the continuously DETERIORATING condition of his father Richard, who he uncomplainingly keeps CARING for (cooking for him, etc.)...
... He finds some new X-rays of Richard’s condition, & promptly hides them in his school bag (to look at them in more detail later) as he hurries out to go to school...
... When Billy arrives to drive him to school, Dan is surprised by the way he TALKS to him, namely, angrily complaining about how he’s recently been LATE or not around for such trips to & from school...
... Dan tries to tell him, he’d been having some HARD times lately, which Billy didn’t know about or understand... Hearing that, Billy irately “challenges” him by saying, OK, so, “TELL me what I [supposedly] ‘don’t know’!...”
... Not expecting such a response, but not up to going into “DETAILS” about his dad’s condition & what he’d been going thru, Dan speaks WITHOUT THINKING first, saying, he had X-rays with him (which he pulls out) of stomach CANCER!...
... Distressed by what had transpired, rather than go into “details”, Dan sort of tries to get “away” from the subject & encourage Billy to DROP the subject by saying, HE’S the one with cancer that will only allow a few more MONTHS to live, so life had been difficult lately...
... Dan immediately realizes he’d picked a BAD thing to blurt out, & tries to “AVOID” talking any more on the subject.. But, by this time, they’d arrived at school & he saw he’d stunned his friend Billy, & he tries to hurry AWAY from the car, hoping Billy will forget or ignore what had gone on...
... Dan chances to meet Emily as he enters school... But then, BILLY comes rushing up to him, saying he hadn’t REALIZED that Dan was going thru CANCER problems, & to please FORGIVE him for the way he’d complained to him earlier!...
... Dan is very discombobulated by what had gone on, UPSET that EMILY had heard Billy’s words, & tells Billy please, just DROP the subject & don’t go speaking to anyone ELSE about what they’d discussed (which Billy agrees to do)...
... But, EMILY starts becoming sort of “SOLICITOUS” towards him, even tho she doesn’t go into any “detailed” discussion of what she’d overheard...
... Quickly, Dan notices OTHER people start being unusually KIND towards him in school-- including people who’d been “harassing” him in the past!...
... He quickly deduces that Billy has TOLD others about what he’d said concerning cancer, confronts him about that-- & Billy apologizes after admitting he HAD told others because he just couldn’t keep it to “himself”...
... Dan finds himself “between a rock & a HARD place”: rather than show himself to be a LIAR & go into unpleasant “personal” details about his DAD, he just quietly “ACCEPTS” the unusual KINDNESSES that people were suddenly giving him...
... But, that unexpectedly causes him even MORE problems: he was deeply appreciative of the way EMILY had been sweet towards him even before she’d heard what Billy said about “his” cancer, & he finds it very hard to pull “AWAY” from the INCREASED “INTEREST” she keeps showing in him...
... It means so much to Dan (with all the unhappy things in his life) that Emily seems to truly CARE about him as a person-- but, he also feels very guilty that he’s been DECEIVING her & others (tho that had not been any initial “intention” of his)...
... As they talk in her car near a waterfall, Emily doesn’t see that he’s crying when she keeps talking about how “BRAVE” & “HONEST” he is...
... As time goes on, Dan’s dad keeps WORSENING health-wise... Dan feels good that he’s able to give Richard some happiness by telling him how he’s now got a GIRLFRIEND in life, which Richard is thrilled to hear...
... Emily keeps encouraging Dan to become ROMANTICALLY involved...
... That means a lot to him, since he so much needs warmth with all the sadnesses in his life...
... But, at the same time, he keeps feeling progressively more EMBARRASSED at the way he feels he has to keep “putting-off” her interest in meeting his FAMILY (which only consists of his dying dad)...
... We see how Dan keep trying to get more medical help for Richard, which he REFUSES to accept...
... All that leaves Dan feeling ever more DISTRAUGHT & helpless in life-- especially because he’s kept “going-along” with his inadvertent ruse to school people about his OWN health, including having shaved his HEAD as if he was the one suffering from CHEMO problems...
... What will we see happen to Richard about his battle with cancer?...
... Will Dan ever ADMIT to Emily & others that he himself does NOT have cancer, &, if so, HOW will he handle that & what will the “REACTIONS” be?...
... As I indicated earlier, this film has been “marketed” as a sort of COMEDY— tho it’s really a DRAMA with some periodic comedic “undertones”...
... I found it to be an unexpectedly “HONEST” portrayal of a young person dealing with some very tough times in his young life, & how people “RESPOND” to him given “changing” circumstances...
... Adam usually seems to play very obnoxious characters (from his work as Chandler’s roommate on TV’s “FRIENDS” on forward)... But here, he comes across with some geniality & kindness... The “minor” roles are also well-cast...
... Altho Richard’s role is not huge, I felt he demonstrated a fine believable SENSITIVITY & integrity in his portrayal...
... To me, the most impressive thing is the EXCEPTIONAL acting by DAN & EMILY (the latter whom won a Festival award as BEST Actress in the 2010 SAN DIEGO Film Festival)...
... While the movie may seem a “small” work, I found it to be LARGE in the impressive way it handled a story of people dealing with difficult times & CONFLICTING emotions...
... I thus wanted to let people KNOW about the high-quality work in this limited-release “slice-of-life” film, which I’m rating at 8.25 out of 10 stars...
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