[REL] An American Crime (2007)

billanben
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[REL] An American Crime (2007)

Post by billanben »   0 likes

This looks like a good film with good reviews. Shown at the Sundance festival :-

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0802948/

I attended the world premiere of "An American Crime" at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. Among the several decidedly downbeat films I saw this past week, this one was by far the hardest to watch. But something about it is compelling, like craning your neck to see what horrors can be spotted at the scene of a car crash. You know it can't be anything pretty, yet you can't take your eyes off it. Perhaps it was knowing that the film is, in fact, based on a true story. The opening courtroom scenes and disclaimer that "actual transcripts" were used make that clear. There's something about a "true crime" drama that triggers a desire to sit through whatever terrifying images lie ahead. And the images conjured up here are bone-chilling.

In 1965, Betty Likens (Romy Rosemont) and her husband Lester (Nick Searcy) decided it was best to leave their two daughters with a neighbor while they went off with a traveling carnival. So Sylvia Likens (Ellen Page) and her sister Jennie Fae (Hayley McFarland) settled in with the Baniszewski clan. And what a clan it was. Mother Gertrude (Catherine Keener) already had five of her own in tow, and now she added two more. What happened then, well documented in the record, is now played out for us with horrifying realism.

This is Keener and Page's film, despite the large ensemble cast assembled for the story. And both actors create frighteningly devastating portrayals of characters we still can't quite believe really endured these horrors. Mommie Dearest doesn't hold a candle to Keener's Gertrude, and Page is as heartbreaking as any victim I've seen in modern cinema. Both turn in award-winning performances that left me with chills.

In addition to the numerous family members, an assortment of school chums has the opportunity to get involved in some way. Coy Hubbard (Jeremy Sumpter) is the boyfriend of one of the Baniszewski brood. Known to most from 2003's "Peter Pan," we can't help but feel that he will be the hero here. Teddy Lewis (Michael Welch), is an enigma from the start. One of our most prolific yet underrated young actors today, Welch is perfectly cast as the boy whose blood runs hot or cold depending on the prevailing winds. Other notables include The West Wing's Bradley Whitford as prosecutor Leroy K. New.

This is a period piece set in the mid-60s, and the costumes, sets, and palette of colors effectively evokes that era to a T. Much of the film's look can be attributed to the cinematography of Byron Shah, who had two films here at Sundance (his "The Go-Getter" was one of my favorite film' at this year's festival).

"An American Crime" is not for everyone. It's a horror film that isn't a work of fiction. If it was from the hand of Stephen King it would be scary and delicious. Instead it's scary and nauseating. Yet it deserves the label "important," because the subject matter is worthy of discussion. And that's because the horrors exposed in this film are still occurring today. That's the real crime.

This is why I think we need a "Forthcoming Releases" forum - gems like this will probably be lost otherwise.
billanben
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Re: [REL] An American Crime (2007)

Post by billanben »   0 likes

Please move to Forthcoming releases
billanben
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Re: [REL] An American Crime (2007)

Post by billanben »   0 likes

Still not available on EM
FLL
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Re: [REL] An American Crime (2007)

Post by FLL »   4 likes

This is now out on Usenet (alt.binaries.movies.divx yesterday) and eMule.

Like this post to see ed2k links  [696.92 Mb]
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ghost
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Re: [REL] An American Crime (2007)

Post by ghost »   0 likes

Thanks for finding ;)

Thread moved to REL
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ARTHORIUS
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Re: [REL] An American Crime (2007)

Post by ARTHORIUS »   0 likes

ok d/ling :thumbsup
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kev
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Re: [REL] An American Crime (2007)

Post by kev »   0 likes

WOW!! Thanks FLL, for finding this one. The DVD WILL join my collection when it comes out.

Had a MAJOR movie day!!

Saw two versions of the same crime in one day, and I must say both were pretty devestating.

The true ending to the story:
On October 26, 1965, Indianapolis police answered a call saying that a girl had died. The call came from a pay telephone in front of a Shell station in a poor section of the city. The caller was a teenaged boy whose voice had not finished changing into that of an adult man. He sounded very nervous and directed the police to the address, 3850 East New York Street, at which they would find the dead female.

When the cops got to the dingy, rundown, clapboard home to which the anonymous caller had directed them, they found the emaciated dead body of 16-year-old Sylvia Marie Likens. She was covered with bruises and small wounds, later revealed to be cigarette and match burns that numbered over 100. There were also large areas where the outer layer of skin had peeled off. Likens also had a large letter "3" branded on her chest. However, the most remarkable injuries, by far, were the words in block letters that had been burned directly onto her stomach: "I'M A PROSTITUTE AND PROUD OF IT!"
Sylvia Marie Lykins:
[Image]

Between this movie and 'The Girl Next Door', it's hard to say which is better as one is presented pretty much as a horror movie [The Girl...] while 'An American Crime' is more of a docu-drama, that closely followed the actual events.

The characters were more 'fleshed out' in this movie, however.

While Blythe Auffarth [as Meg Loughlin] played the character around whom all events centered in 'The Girl Next Door'; her character became more of an object that things happened to rather than retaining her humanity. I'm sure this was partly due to the story being told from David's characters point-of-view [POV], and thus we only saw her when David did.

In THIS movie, though, the story is told from Sylvia's characters POV, and the horrors she has to suffer through seemed to me to be more impactive even though they weren't shown as graphically.

(LOVED the 'An Occurence At Owl Creek Bridge' twist!!!! ;) )

Both movies, though, failed [intentionally, I'm sure] to portray some of the truely humiliating horrors that Sylvia actually suffered. A couple of sites that provide you with more info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Likens
and
http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/noto ... ens/1.html

There's more out there, but those two links sum up her story best.

Geeze: "OH, THE HUMANITY...": Born and bred on horror films, I've enjoyed some of the sickest cinema out there, but I still can't fathom how people can actually perform such atrocities on others... :wall

kev.
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Amadeus
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Re: [REL] An American Crime (2007)

Post by Amadeus »   0 likes

If it's anything like The Girl Next Door (2007), should be pretty good.

Also, for fast Download, an aXXo release on torrent:
http://thepiratebay.org/tor/4168847/An_ ... vDrip-aXXo
Debaser

Re: [REL] An American Crime (2007)

Post by Debaser »   0 likes

If it's anything like The Girl Next Door (2007), should be pretty good
I wish!!
The potential was there.

Whenever something good happens (good as in bad), its mostly off-screen :(

Its not without its charm though.

Thanks FLL
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ARTHORIUS
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Re: [REL] An American Crime (2007)

Post by ARTHORIUS »   0 likes

[Image][Image][Image][Image][Image]
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