I got the impression the film was made on a low budget. That's cool. Sometimes the lower the budget the better the film. The 2 male characters were established well (in the beginning - I'll come back to this). I don't know whether the supporting cast were kept two-dimensional for a reason, but it gave me the impression that I was living the life of the male lead in this film. We meet some of his random friends, his love interest, but their characters depth was not revealed to the audience. You know how in high school, you run into a few people you get along with throughout the day, then you don't see them again for the rest of it? Well, there were plenty of people in this film that popped up for two or three scenes, appeared to be a significant character but didn't really contribute much at all by the end. That had their place, albeit short lived.
I enjoyed the realism of the initial two thirds of the film. It was kind of slow but I liked that. I liked how the teens go home to mum and dinner of a night, and parents get worried for their kids. I felt the main characters mum was going to have a significant moment in the storyline but that never came. She was very involved in her sons life, and when his mood and behaviour changed due to an unfortunate event (his dirty secret), I got the impression she could sense something was up but this was never explored.
My main concern with this film is the so-called antagonist. I don't think he was set-up well to become the antagonist. I noticed the protagonist becoming concerned about his mates behaviour - the few times he saw him. I'm guessing it was because the protagonists' friend was distancing himself so much after their dirty secret, that was the most concerning for the protagonist, and later his paranoia or suspicions that his friend might be involved in some other dirty deeds - which for me, seemed well out of character for the antagonist.
I paused the film twice to go out for a smoke and I was wondering if I'd skipped a huge part when I reached a scene towards the end and the antagonist has become homicidal. Since when? Why? I can guess why but there wasn't much of a story to support it. If there had been, I'd be giving this film a 7 out of 10.
The characters were likeable, and everything else in the film worked well for me. The teenage parties reminded me of the teenage parties I attended, weirdo's at school, chicks acting a little weird with pens etc. The opening scene may seem irrelevant to the film - BUT, on reflection, I'm inclined to believe that this may be the work of the antagonist who was may have always been a sociopath with a katana (Japanese sword).
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