Mais um filme independente muito bem conseguido! Escrito pelos irmãos Steven e Derek Martini, e realizado por este último,
Lymelife é um filme capaz de surpreender pela sua temática e pelo elenco fantástico que apresenta. É inevitável constatar durante o genérico nos dois nomes que assumem destaque enquanto produtores. Alec Baldwin e Martin Scorsese fazem as honras, sendo logo claro sinal que certamente será um investimento em bom material. Pelo menos interpreto este sinal como tal.
A acção toma lugar durante os anos 70 em Long Island, Nova Iorque. A história incide sob várias personagens, mas com um olhar particular para a família Bartlett, família esta a que o jovem que nos oferece a sua perspectiva, reside.
À partida com humor subtil mas eficaz, este se desfaz e dá lugar a situações sérias, de compromissos desfeitos, famílias partidas, medos e inseguranças, todas elas disfarçadas por uma camada fina que começa a ceder com o tempo... O "disfuncional" começa com uma doença denominada lyme, iniciando um processo em cadeia que passa por questões ligadas a negligencia, infidelidade num meio onde a família protagonista esta dividida entre uma vida levada pelas aparências e uma vida composta pelas bases humildes.
Bem, mas melhor do que me por aqui com rodeios, deixo-vos a sinopse que consta no site da
Rotten Tomatoes para que tenham uma melhor ideia geral do que se trata o filme...
SINOPSE:
It’s 1979 on Long Island, New York. Change is in the air -- the promise of a better life luring a new immigration from the city to the suburbs. In this world, real estate development is like...
It’s 1979 on Long Island, New York. Change is in the air -- the promise of a better life luring a new immigration from the city to the suburbs. In this world, real estate development is like winning the lottery, and money means success. The rest of the world may sit on a precipice -- the Falkland War looms and before long American hostages will be taken in Iran -- but on Long Island the future is bright, vulnerable only to that which sucks ones soul, much like the contagious Lyme disease ironically found on the picturesque deer that populate the island.
15 year-old Scott Bartlett is at the precipice as well…but he’s unlikely to notice what with his mom duct tapping him up as protection against the dreaded scourge (a disease, she would be quick to note, they don’t have back in Queens) and his dad busy with building the American Dream in the guise of a planned community called “Bartlettown”. Scott does know he is definitely in love with 16 year-old Adrianna next door, but she may or may not have noticed, it’s hard for Scott to read the signs and her family has her a little preoccupied anyway -- her father has the disease and can barely face each new day as her mother now has to head out to work to earn their living by selling new homes in Bartlettown.
When Scott’s brother, Jimmy, returns home for a brief stay before shipping out to the Falkland Islands, Scott is relieved to have a ready champion who can fight his battles, help diffuse their parents fighting, and generally keep an eye out for him. But when even Jimmy has had enough, Scott is forced to look at his world through a different set of lenses.
In a world where money drives men and happiness is delayed until after the success, Scott is about to discover the pedestal he’s built for his idols can barely support the weight of his own youthful innocence, let alone sustain those he places on top. A bright story about the dark side of suburban paradise, Lymelife stars Alec Baldwin, Kieran Culkin, Rory Culkin, Jill Hennessy, Timothy Hutton, Cynthia Nixon and Emma Roberts. Written and Directed by Derick Martini and Steve Martini, Lymelife is directed by Derick Martini.
De realçar das performances do elenco, o sr. Alec Baldwin, na interpretação de um homem, pai e marido, em muitos campos detestável, mas com quem inevitavelmente acabei por criar uma relação de grande empatia e solidariedade. Não por me identificar de alguma forma com o que a personagem vive no momento, mas por acreditar na sua sinceridade perante o filho mais novo, com quem falhara, pondo em cheque a sua estabilidade familiar.
Esse momento, crucial no aumento da minha apetência para ser solidário com Mickey Bartlett, é um diálogo entre pai e filho onde senti uma química forte entre as personagens, dando a sensação do real que aquela cena parecia...
(Spoiler Alert)
Mickey: Hey, come on down.
We'll go to carvel.
We'll go get a shake.
Scott: No, I'm tired.
I have school tomorrow.
M: You're suspended.
S: Still, mom will get mad
if I go this late.
M: It's not even 11:00.
Come on down.
She'll never know.
S: Then I'll be a liar too.
M: I never lied to her, Scott.
She just never bothered to ask.
It isn't some state secret that
we haven't been getting along and for a long time too.
People do stupid things when they're trying to get something that doesn't fit to fit.
I don't know what to say to you.
But I've already lost one kid because of my problems with your mother.
I don't want to lose the other.
S: Well... well, then why did you have to fuck her, dad?
M: It's tough to be a man, Scott.
You got to make money to put food on the table.
You got to be a dad to your kids.
You got to be a husband to your wife.
The money part I got.
The dad part, I'm batting .500.
The husband part...
then other people come into the picture at the right or the wrong time, and things happen.
I was unhappy.
I am unhappy.
But I promise you that everything is gonna be okay.
Now, please, come down here before fucking carvel closes.
S: I can't.
Without further ado... fica aqui o trailer !
