This film begins with what seems like a harsh, almost ridiculous sequence where a grown man abuses a young boy. The kid is in his underwear, suspended from the ceiling and beaten with a belt. It's rife with hints of sexual abuse as well. And watching it is one of the most revolting and distasteful things I can imagine. It almost made me hate the film. It almost poisoned my mind against giving the film a chance.

But director Van Fischer slowly begins to braid together pieces of a story that culminate into a look at urban life which is wondrous and disquieting. Fischer's story tells of a grown man, an ex con, who, contrary to the cinematic norm, isn't bitter, or irrevocably damaged, or out for revenge. Instead Tommy, as played by Frank John Hughes, is a quiet and subdued man just trying to make his world work. Trapped in the maze of work release half-way houses, a minimum wage job, his past lives and his own quiet reserve, Tommy becomes one of the greatest quiet heros in cinematic history. Hughes comes across like a modern day, intelligent Joe Dallesandro who can act.

Hughes work here is flawless. He works the character around and guides him through the framework of the plot with such quiet intricacy that we can't help but fall into the film. We want to see him succeed. When Hughes' Tommy hooks up with a school teacher played by Seidy Lopez, a woman who seemingly understand and appreciates this quiet wonder, we dream that they will be able to make a life together and keep our fingers crossed that all will end well.

Hughes' Tommy is also drawn out by a coworker played with comic genius by Lumbardo Boyar. Utilizing the awesome script by Fischer, Boyar makes the dialogue seem like improvised magic. He is, simply put, hilarious. He interjects the solemn proceedings with just the right amount of comic relief. It's sad, in a way, when Fischer has Boyar's Guillermo become involved in some rather typical urban drama exposition, it takes the film into a realm of contrivances that seemingly only hurt the film. Early scenes of Boyar with a young actress who plays his sister are both amusing and sweet. We don't want to see him fall into a typical subplot.

But, even utilizing a standard plot line, Fischer still manages to make plenty of magic here. The main character and his love interest are so strong that we can accept the standard subplots that accompany their story in the film. Even when Fischer steps over the line, when he presents child abusers typically, when he presents homosexuals as ugly stereotypes, when he reverts to "drug war" street gang mentalities, he has the unbreakable core of his main story frame to keep his film alive and glowing.

I don't know if limiting the film's plot to the romance between Tommy and the schoolteacher would work. Perhaps that would not be enough to complete the dramatic world that Fischer has to create to make the film work. Like the overtly harsh images of child abuse, the plot contrivances here somehow manage to make the main character more whole, more important, and more fixated in our minds.

And when Fischer moves to his inevitable conclusion (which actually blindsided me a little), the film ends on a sadly typical note. And yet... I'm not sure where else the film could go.

If this film doesn't make Fischer a full-fledge important director, if this film doesn't make Hughes a "star of tomorrow," there is no justice.

Sadly, you'll probably see this film on cable someday advertised as a "Made for Showtime" film or something like that. It will be the best fucking movie you will see that month.

Notes:

Also with Joeseph Bologna and Dana Ashbrook (of "Twin Peaks " fame).

Fischer sold his house and maxed his credit cards to make the film. When he had to do a re-shoot of the final sequence, he sold his automobile.

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