DVD REVIEW -NEO NED (2006) ** Jeremy Renner, Gabrielle Union, Sally Kirkland, Cary Elwes, Steve Railsback, Ethan Suplee, Eddie Kaye Thomas, Richard Riehle.
Jeremy Renner is an up-and-coming new character actor with definite acting chops who, this past year, made an indelible impression on me in two disparate roles, as a sexual harassing co-worker to Charlize Theron in the drama "North Country" and as a former fire-fighter coming to grips with depression in the indie "Twelve and Holding", both excellent work by the talented thespian, who shines here in this little seen indie as the metaphorically titular character (the Neo- referring to his skinhead Nazi tendencies and eventually for his re-birth at a mental health clinic) Ned, who has had a rough life. His real mother, a flibbertigibbet flake (Kirkland), lost him to the tragic life of foster care (he barely escaped a family's mass suicide) while his father is in prison, he wound up befriended by peer-pressuring thugs in the unlikely form of a skinhead gang that eventually leads to the murder of a young black man. Although not implicit for the death Ned is sent instead of jail to the clinic where he meets a beautiful young black woman named Rachael (Union, in one of her surprisingly stronger efforts and also another talent to continue to watch), who has everyone there under the impression she is the re-incarnation of Adolph Hitler (!)
Tentatively feeling each other out and realizing that both are completely at unease with their guises, the two begin to bond and fall in love until Ned is unceremoniously dismissed from the premises (no one sees any progress and he has been a nuisance to the staff and patients). Instead of taking his one-way ticket on a bus to nowhere, Ned instead returns to the clinic and follows the patients to their scheduled field trip at the local zoo, where he sees Rachael and lies to her that he is 'cured' and persuades her to join him in a new life. But Rachael is also not who she appears (a victim of a sexual abuser while a young girl) and the happy life the two design for themselves doesn't turn out to be what they anticipated.
The film, directed by novice Van Fischer moves along predictably - kind of like a made-for-TV mix of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" meets "Badlands" but without the rampant wave of violence for violence sake, with some subtle touches (i.e. Ned's fading swastika on his t-shirt suggesting his tendencies are all but non-existent), but the screenplay by Tim Boughn feels bare-bones where rich character development and a better transition from scene-to-scene could've been forged more thoroughly.
But the acting is uniformly solid, including cameo-esquire work by Elwes and Kirkland.
Jeremy Renner is an up-and-coming new character actor with definite acting chops who, this past year, made an indelible impression on me in two disparate roles, as a sexual harassing co-worker to Charlize Theron in the drama "North Country" and as a former fire-fighter coming to grips with depression in the indie "Twelve and Holding", both excellent work by the talented thespian, who shines here in this little seen indie as the metaphorically titular character (the Neo- referring to his skinhead Nazi tendencies and eventually for his re-birth at a mental health clinic) Ned, who has had a rough life. His real mother, a flibbertigibbet flake (Kirkland), lost him to the tragic life of foster care (he barely escaped a family's mass suicide) while his father is in prison, he wound up befriended by peer-pressuring thugs in the unlikely form of a skinhead gang that eventually leads to the murder of a young black man. Although not implicit for the death Ned is sent instead of jail to the clinic where he meets a beautiful young black woman named Rachael (Union, in one of her surprisingly stronger efforts and also another talent to continue to watch), who has everyone there under the impression she is the re-incarnation of Adolph Hitler (!)
Tentatively feeling each other out and realizing that both are completely at unease with their guises, the two begin to bond and fall in love until Ned is unceremoniously dismissed from the premises (no one sees any progress and he has been a nuisance to the staff and patients). Instead of taking his one-way ticket on a bus to nowhere, Ned instead returns to the clinic and follows the patients to their scheduled field trip at the local zoo, where he sees Rachael and lies to her that he is 'cured' and persuades her to join him in a new life. But Rachael is also not who she appears (a victim of a sexual abuser while a young girl) and the happy life the two design for themselves doesn't turn out to be what they anticipated.
The film, directed by novice Van Fischer moves along predictably - kind of like a made-for-TV mix of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" meets "Badlands" but without the rampant wave of violence for violence sake, with some subtle touches (i.e. Ned's fading swastika on his t-shirt suggesting his tendencies are all but non-existent), but the screenplay by Tim Boughn feels bare-bones where rich character development and a better transition from scene-to-scene could've been forged more thoroughly.
But the acting is uniformly solid, including cameo-esquire work by Elwes and Kirkland.