I knew I was in trouble when the picture comes up and there's Vincent Kartheiser (better known as Connor from the Angel TV show); I knew I was in more trouble when, as he lay against an unending field of amber grain, he puts a revolver into his mouth and blows his head off.
Dandelion is a long, boring, depressing film about boring, depressed kids stuck in the middle of the heartland somewhere (though blessed with the ability to walk for miles and miles in seemingly no time at all). Kartheiser plays the mopey lead Mason, whose father (Arliss Howard) is perpetually angry and whose mother (Mare Winningham) drinks to cope. The first forty-five minutes or so concerns itself with Mason covering for an accidental hit-and-run his dad commits (and no reason is ever given for the sullen boy's unspoken act of heroism. There's no displayed love between father and son. He just does it, for no reason); and the second half of the film covers Mason's relationship with Danny (Taryn Manning), a girl almost as depressed as he because her mom (a bloated, blonde Michelle Forbes) moves around so much she has no roots and no sense of self. Naturally these two bring some spark of happiness to one another; his parents almost seem glad, but her mother decides to move again, sparking, gasp, a conflict.
I was surprised to see that this film ran only 93 minutes. It felt well over two hours, like one of those butt-numbing Peter Jackson epics. The pacing is so slow and the characters so lethargic and apathetic that it's hard to feel anything during the course of the film. There's some gorgeous Midwestern scenery, but I think the filmmakers were going for bleak isolation rather than bountiful plenty.
Not that most of you have even heard of this film (no accident there), but now that you have, avoid it. You must by default have some better way to kill 90 minutes than to watch this film. Should you happen upon it at a rental place, or even online, do yourself a favor I failed to and pass on this clunker.
Dandelion is a long, boring, depressing film about boring, depressed kids stuck in the middle of the heartland somewhere (though blessed with the ability to walk for miles and miles in seemingly no time at all). Kartheiser plays the mopey lead Mason, whose father (Arliss Howard) is perpetually angry and whose mother (Mare Winningham) drinks to cope. The first forty-five minutes or so concerns itself with Mason covering for an accidental hit-and-run his dad commits (and no reason is ever given for the sullen boy's unspoken act of heroism. There's no displayed love between father and son. He just does it, for no reason); and the second half of the film covers Mason's relationship with Danny (Taryn Manning), a girl almost as depressed as he because her mom (a bloated, blonde Michelle Forbes) moves around so much she has no roots and no sense of self. Naturally these two bring some spark of happiness to one another; his parents almost seem glad, but her mother decides to move again, sparking, gasp, a conflict.
I was surprised to see that this film ran only 93 minutes. It felt well over two hours, like one of those butt-numbing Peter Jackson epics. The pacing is so slow and the characters so lethargic and apathetic that it's hard to feel anything during the course of the film. There's some gorgeous Midwestern scenery, but I think the filmmakers were going for bleak isolation rather than bountiful plenty.
Not that most of you have even heard of this film (no accident there), but now that you have, avoid it. You must by default have some better way to kill 90 minutes than to watch this film. Should you happen upon it at a rental place, or even online, do yourself a favor I failed to and pass on this clunker.