After stabbing an autistic boy the sixteen year old troubled and pessimist Leland P. Fitzgerald is sent to a juvenile detention. His teacher and aspirant writer Pearl Madison gets close and tries to understand him first with intention of writing a book and later becoming his friend. Leland slowly discloses his sad vision of world.
Review
Leland P. Fitzgerald (Ryan Gosling) has committed an unspeakable crime the stabbing of the retarded younger brother of his exgirlfriend Becky (Jena Malone). No one least of all Leland himself can explain why hes done what hes done whether the act was premeditated or spontaneous done out of hatred or love.
In the detention center Leland meets Pearl Madison (Don Cheadle) a onetime novel writer who sees in Lelands case a second opportunity. But Pearl also wants to understand Lelands motivation and takes him under his wing as a confidante in the prison.
The film jumps from the past to the present several times often allowing the past to act as a context to the present and vice versa. Writerdirector Matthew Ryan Hodge shows how Lelands crime and the events leading up to it affect the people in his life from Becky to her family to Lelands mother (Lena Olin) and estranged father (Kevin Spacey) to Allen (Chris Klein) a young man who is staying with Beckys family after the death of his own mother.
The chief asset in the movie is Gosling who is perfectly cast as the 15yearold pseudopsychopath. Like Bartleby the Scrivener Goslings Leland just exists he shows little emotion during the film but instead his expressions belie an ocean of guilt sadness love and rage.
Each of the main actors offered perhaps their best work to date save Spacey (whos not exactly a novice). Special praise is due to Malone and Klein two young performers who are better known for lighthearted comedy fare than the heavy drama of this movie.
Another huge benefit in terms of the story is that none of the characters is flawless none are heroes out to save the day. This is simply not a blackandwhite movie.