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| Fenced in domesticity with secrets and characters that are far apart are some of the messages from this cold poster for Derick Martini's Lymelife |
We follow teenage boy Scott in Long Island in the 1970s during a period where fear for Lyme disease sweeps the suburban setting, Scott's father's infidelity uproots their family, and Scott loses his virginity.
Lymelife is written by brothers Steven Martini (Louis (2010)) and debuting co-writer/director/co-editor Derick Martini (The Curse of Downers Grove (2015)), based on their own experiences growing up.
I know the kind of film the Martinis were going for with Lymelife here; I know it down to the straw. - Unfortunately Lymelife never achieves being a good exponent for this type of indie coming-of-age drama. The expletive-stuffed dialog is wearying, and so is the youth violence and attempts at being raunchy by adding some blasphemy.
Teenage leads Rory Culkin (Gabriel (2014)) and Emma Roberts (The Blackcoat's Daughter (2015)) spent a good portion of the film half-naked, which feels gratuitous here, so it is up to the individual viewer whether to embrace or reject this. Alec Baldwin (It's Complicated (2009)) is engaged and identifies with his part as embattled family man and he is good here, but it can't save this youth movie, which doesn't feel very young, and which has a downbeat core which just doesn't provoke the desired reaction.
Culkin and Roberts give an interview about their work on the film here
Cost: Estimated 1.5 mil. $
Box office: 540k $
= Mega-flop (returned 0.36 times the cost)
[Lymelife premiered 8 September (Toronto International Film Festival, Canada) and runs 94 minutes. Shooting took place in New Jersey from March - April 2008. The film opened #54 to a 27k $ first weekend in 4 theaters in North America, where it peaked #43 and in 35 theaters, grossing 421k $ (78 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Russia with 71k $ (13.1 %) and South Korea with 32k $ (5.9 %). A few markets have undisclosed gross figures. The film won a critics' prize in Toronto. Roger Ebert gave it a 3.5/4 star review, translating to three notches higher than this one. Martini returned with The Proposal (2009, short) and theatrically with Hick (2011). Culkin returned in Twelve (2010), Roberts with a voice performance in The Flight Before Christmas (2008) and physically in Hotel for Dogs (2009), Baldwin in My Best Friend's Girl (2008). Lymelife is fresh at 63 % with a 6.1/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of Lymelife?
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