"The Lesser Blessed" takes a dark but somewhat conventional high school melodrama and sets it on an Indian reservation in Canada. It's a revealing portrait of lives on the edge of poverty (no casinos here, apparently) and the limiting, two-fisted world a sensitive soul world like Larry might never escape.
Director Anita Doron, who also wrote the script based on the novel by Richard Van Camp, has assembled a uniformly solid cast, starting with an impressive debut by Evans, whose brown eyes are both soulful and watchful. It's a performance that commands our attention and empathy.
This is a coming-of-age film, with a distinctly northern Canadian flavour, that will appeal to both moody adolescents and discerning adults.
Director Anita Doron, who also wrote the script based on the novel by Richard Van Camp, has assembled a uniformly solid cast, starting with an impressive debut by Evans, whose brown eyes are both soulful and watchful. It's a performance that commands our attention and empathy.
This is a coming-of-age film, with a distinctly northern Canadian flavour, that will appeal to both moody adolescents and discerning adults.