The United States Of Leland Review
by Steve Rhodes (Steve DOT Rhodes AT InternetReviews DOT com)April 5th, 2004
THE UNITED STATES OF LELAND
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 2004 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): *** 1/2
Eliciting understated and perceptive performances from even the most minor members of THE UNITED STATES OF LELAND's large and talented cast, writer and director Matthew Ryan Hoge crafts a beautifully intriguing film around the question of "Why?"
Leland Fitzgerald has killed the retarded brother of his girlfriend, Becky Pollard (Jena Malone), a sweet girl with her own set of problems, especially hard drug usage. Leland is played brilliantly by Ryan Gosling, who was so absolutely amazing as the lead in THE BELIEVER. Since Leland was like the dead boy's big brother, no one, including Leland himself, has any clue as to why it happened. Leland remembers the exact flavor of ice cream -- pink bubble gum -- he got in an outing with his father when he was five, but he can't remember anything about the boy's death.
In juvenile hall, Leland tells his father-confessor, Pearl Madison (Don Cheadle), "You want to know why, but maybe there isn't a 'why?' Maybe, it's just something that happened." Although Pearl wants to be Leland's friend and helper, what he wants most of all is material for a book about him. Pearl isn't a guidance counselor but a teacher to the inmates. The title of the movie comes from something that Leland scribbles on his history workbook, which turns into his diary.
This quiet, introspective film introduces three times more characters and storylines that it needs but manages, nonetheless, to make us care about all of the characters since they are so genuine. ELECTION's Chris Klein and THE STATION AGENT's Michelle Williams, for example, play young lovers with their own set of problems. As Becky's sister, Julie, Williams has to deal with her family's grief, an upcoming college admission decision and a decision on whether to stay with her longtime boyfriend.
A snarly Kevin Spacey plays Leland's estranged father, Albert. After divorcing his wife, Marybeth (Lena Olin), Albert moves to Paris. Twice a year, he sends Leland tickets to visit him in Europe, knowing full well that his son will do something else entirely with the tickets. One of Leland's favorite things is using them to visit a family he met in New York.
Pearl meets Albert in a bar to pick his brains, but, instead, Albert almost eats him alive. "I could write twelve novels on the lights and shadows in this bar," Albert brags of his unsurpassable writing abilities. He's not about to let Pearl exploit his son since Albert has his own plans to do the exploiting.
So much is going on in this reserved and pensive picture that it becomes easy to forgive what is its one possible flaw, a pair of off-the-wall twists. Mostly, however, this is a film whose nuances glimmer with a diamond's brilliance.
THE UNITED STATES OF LELAND runs 1:44. It is rated R for "language and some drug content" and would be acceptable for older teenagers.
The film opens nationwide in the United States on Friday, April 9, 2004. In the Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the Camera Cinemas.
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