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This earnest drama depicts not so much a May/December relationship as a February/June affair between a 15-year-old and a 29-year-old. Eban (Brent Fellows) has come back to his former hometown of Seaside, Oregon, after being driven from Seattle by a controversy at the school where he taught. Soon he meets Charley (Giovanni Adrade), a teenager whose mother has died and whose father is a jerk, and before long they fall in love. Eban and Charley depicts a fantasy for those who like their lovers young; Eban acts with complete reserve and restraint, while Charley makes the first move and proclaims that age shouldn't matter if they love each other. The actors give extremely naturalistic performances that some viewers will find painfully tedious and others may find refreshing. The movie also features a soundtrack by Stephin Merritt of indie-pop band Magnetic Fields. --Bret Fetzer
Description
After his parents get divorced, and he loses his beloved mother to a drunk driver, 15-year-old Charley goes to live in a lonely seaside town with his overly strict, military-man father. During one grim Christmas break, he finds comfort in the companionship of 29-year-old Eban, a schoolteacher home visiting his folks. When Eban and Charley s friendship deepens into intimacy, both of their families condemn it and threaten to call the police. With tensions high, and the stakes even higher, Eban and Charley face the most dangerous decision of all.
Customer Reviews:
When Heaven Left God.......2007-08-20
This film (Eban and Charley) is one of the most un-nerving films I have ever seen and it is disturbing to the core to view. Admittedly it's my own fault, since college when I studied Eros and the ceaseless affects of sadness that it has on its victims, if you can call them victims, and I have been obsessed with the subject ever since. Basically the film tells the story of a seduction between a slightly older guy over a teenager. You see the older guy, Eban, following the boy around in the first few minutes of the film and I felt unsettled by him because it looked as though he were stalking the boy.
The boy, Charley, has recently witnessed the death of his mother by a freak car accident. Eban uses this incident as a means of seduction over the boy, essentially he communicates with the boy through music and their shared interest in speaking with sign language.
When later it is revealed that the older guy Eban is a pedophile and a former teacher it is creepy how the boy attaches so quickly to him and never lets him go.
My fascination with Eros (see Anne Carson's book of the subject) lies within the psychology field of behavioral sciences and this film is fascinating only in that you see behavior that is so unlike what society expects from its citizens.
What bothered me more about the film is that it is shot in home-video style and obviously the filmmaker was shooting for realism. However I personally have never felt this style of filmmaking to be realistic. Realism (and I wish filmmakers could learn this) comes from depth of understanding and compassion for their subject (see Brokeback Mountain).
The film, even though it ended well, left this feeling of abandonment on me. Society does not understand that either relationships need to be this way or otherwise soltitude drives you mad.
As a child I knew what abandonment was and as an adult it is this that I understand about those who grow up different.
Nothing conventional here.......2007-06-08
This was a pretty good movie. The plot was excellent. And it's nice to see something that doesn't fit into any existing mold. The part of the 15 year old was perfectly casted & acted. The 29 year old was not well casted nor acted- thus the 4 stars. He was unattractive, soft-spoken and weird. If you are looking for nudity skip this one, there's not much. Worth watching overall.
I almost bought it...almost.......2007-02-04
I almost bought the plot, but I couldn't help noticing how ugly Eban was. He screams creepy with his trashy unshaven face and tingle in his voice. Charley was certainly cute, but he was also 15. This is a very hard movie to produce in America with all the laws and stuff, and really just needs a better Eban. Not really worth it.
A bit disappointed.......2006-10-04
As a previous reviewer stated: "I wanted to like this film, I really did". I whole heartedly agree, but I found myself a bit disturbed by the execution of the plot. First of all it was not at all believable in a lot of areas. For instance, when Eban approached Charley, (well below his own age), a total stranger he was attracted to, in an empty coffee shop with plenty of other places to sit. Charley allowing him to sit there and not at all acting uncomfortable about the situation, as if they were old friends. Then Eban so boldly following up by stalking the boy the next day and approaching him again. What a deliberate set up! Then when invited to Charley's room with both having wet feet and taking off their shoes and socks, Eban shucks his pants as well, I was left feeling that this situation could not have been totally consentual. There was definately a strong attempt here to seduce a boy who was waiting to experience his first love in the shadows of his mothers death, a rotten relationship with his father and all while dealing with feelings of attraction for the same sex. While this film was slow at best, the relationship progress raced along way too fast to be believable. I suppose the best description of this movie would be about a man with a problem, who can't seem to find the will to battle his demons, so he repeats very recent illegal behavior. He is driven by his lust to seduce a troubled teen male with a lot of demons of his own and looking for a way of escape. The two throw themselves into a frenzied, forbidden relationship which in spite of a script that lacks in several ways, seems to work and has a happy ending right when their relationship is really just starting to take off.
I was impressed with the acting of Charley (Giovanni Andrade). Given the script he had to work with, I thought he done an outstanding job. For an independant film, I was not UNimpressed with the photography or audio. I will admit that I didn't hate this film. It was a daring subject, with touching moments, I just felt a little used after watching it. This COULD HAVE BEEN a whole lot better had a whole lot more thought and practical professionalism been placed into making it. A lot of unexplained things and characters. I gave it three stars because there were moments I liked in the film, but I would recommend if you decide to see it, view it with low expectations. If you don't like it, you won't be disappointed. If you do like it, it will be a pleasant surprise. This film was way over rated. This is a classic example of the old saying: "Don't judge a book (DVD) by it's cover". The leading characters were not nearly as attractive as made to appear on the jacket, and the story line was not put together well at all. I have to agree with Eban's parents on this one: "You are a pedophile son"! Love happens sometimes between people with considerable age difference, but there is a difference between falling in love under unusual circumstances, and seducing someone and arranging the situation so they will be more apt to fall in love with you, just so you can satisfy your desires. This film was billed as a story of two people who just by chance fell in love. Not at all the reality of the whole production. I was disappointed with this one.
Hypocrisy and double standards rule the day!.......2006-03-06
Take a look at some of the reviews for this film, and then compare them with the reviews for "American Beauty." What's amazing is that in the latter film, the Kevin Spacey character spends the entire movie having the hots for a high school cheerleader his daughter's age. In fact he actually gets her stripped down bare-breasted as he readies to play hide the sausage with her on the livingroom couch. Remember all the rose pedals?
So, why is it that "American Beauty" is spared all the Puritanical outrage, when it portrays a forty-something middle age man stripping down a girl minor, but this film gets trashed for having a twenty-something guy having an interest in a 15 year old teen, and there's no sexual acts or even nudity in "Eban and Charley."
It's the same hypocrisy exhibited by neanderthals such as The Today Show's Gene Shalit, who praised "American Beauty," yet referred to "Brokeback Mountain" has being a sexual predator film.
By the way, in order to educate those who aren't aware - the age of consent is just 16 in the following jurisdictions: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Vermont and West Virginia.
Oh my Lord, that's over half the states in the Union, and also Washington DC, to boot. Just think of all the legal pederasty going on in those places, and so many of them are "red" states to boot. Such Godless behavior has to be stopped, but - of course - only between those gays and lesbians. For straights it's obviously okay, since their reheasin' for procreatin'.
Thank God I live in California where people have common sense, in more ways than one.
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