This coming of age film paints a nuanced portrait of an adolescent boy grappling with the violent death of his father. When he and his mom move to a small town, he is drawn into a group of otherwise normal kids who happen to be into shooting guns.
The trouble comes when a few of his peers and their adult influences take it too far. The culture he falls into is at once amped up on testosterone, and also tender, quiet, and unsure of itself (or rather, full of boys who are those things). The film dances between these two extremes. You become grateful he has something to latch onto to release pent up emotion - especially in a world that tells young men to swallow it - and terrified for him as the dark undercurrent of this subculture is unveiled and it becomes clear just how far it will go.
As Will descends deeper into gun culture, he begins to form his own views on gun ownership and faces a series of tests from his peers and mentors to see where his limits are. You can really see him grappling with how to understand his own reality while receiving contradictory messages from all of the influential people in his life.
This confusion sits against the backdrop of a strained parent-child relationship between Will and his mom, who is processing her own grief while simultaneously finding her own sources of comfort and renewal. She's trying her best and nobody is telling her what to do or how to do it. I found her difficulty knowing how to bridge the large chasm with her teenage son very convincing. Somewhat paradoxically, it is when she is pushed to her limits that she is able to see her son's raw heartbreak and put aside her own.
Growing up in a small, conservative town, some of this film resonated with me. Neighbors make it a priority to help one another, and most families go back decades. Of course, nobody in my high school was talking about their semi-automatics and certainly nobody brandished them around town. But this film isn't about everyday kids in every small town - it's about how extreme subcultures are formed and how everyday kids fall into them.
This film is a conversation starter. It is also about the many faces of gun ownership, and it forces you to ask yourself how far, to you, is too far.
Definitely worth the watch!
The trouble comes when a few of his peers and their adult influences take it too far. The culture he falls into is at once amped up on testosterone, and also tender, quiet, and unsure of itself (or rather, full of boys who are those things). The film dances between these two extremes. You become grateful he has something to latch onto to release pent up emotion - especially in a world that tells young men to swallow it - and terrified for him as the dark undercurrent of this subculture is unveiled and it becomes clear just how far it will go.
As Will descends deeper into gun culture, he begins to form his own views on gun ownership and faces a series of tests from his peers and mentors to see where his limits are. You can really see him grappling with how to understand his own reality while receiving contradictory messages from all of the influential people in his life.
This confusion sits against the backdrop of a strained parent-child relationship between Will and his mom, who is processing her own grief while simultaneously finding her own sources of comfort and renewal. She's trying her best and nobody is telling her what to do or how to do it. I found her difficulty knowing how to bridge the large chasm with her teenage son very convincing. Somewhat paradoxically, it is when she is pushed to her limits that she is able to see her son's raw heartbreak and put aside her own.
Growing up in a small, conservative town, some of this film resonated with me. Neighbors make it a priority to help one another, and most families go back decades. Of course, nobody in my high school was talking about their semi-automatics and certainly nobody brandished them around town. But this film isn't about everyday kids in every small town - it's about how extreme subcultures are formed and how everyday kids fall into them.
This film is a conversation starter. It is also about the many faces of gun ownership, and it forces you to ask yourself how far, to you, is too far.
Definitely worth the watch!