As You Are

It’s funny how you can see a trailer and the story it suggest really appeals to you enough to make you want to go out and see it.
But I went to see As You Are and it turns out that the trailer only revels the tip of the ice berg on how compelling this film is.
That’s very rare these days. Usually a trailer gives you too much of the movie, so much in fact that you don’t actually need to see it.
But this trailer showed me just enough to get me in the seat and then the movie gives you so much more.
Although I will say the trailer did exploit the hot topic of homosexuality, but did miss out on exploiting another hot topic.
Set in the mid-nineties (Mostly 94 as I remember where I was when Kurt Cobain died (A hint on where the title comes from as well). The movie is about the complex relationship between Jack and his best friend Mark who seem to connect as their parents relationship becomes serious, but there relationship becomes complicated as they discover themselves.

Like the average trailer I’m scare that I might give out too much info that will reveal  so much you will not need to go out and see it. I’ll try to keep my composure, but As you Are is the type of movie that you want to talk about.

First off, this movie is just about being a teenager. No matter what subtopic, a lot of people (like myself) can relate to that awkward point in your life when High School sucked and you feel alone in life until you meet that one person who is exactly like you and you become joined at the hip. Everyone at one point in your life has that kind of companion that you can talk to and understands you when no one else does. This movie is also about the point when you outgrow that person or something comes between you.
If being a teenager was not hard enough Jack is discovering that girls are not his thing. If you seen the movie Moonlight, it’s almost a similar situation as Jack becomes close to Mark and discovers they have feelings for each other past friendship.
But before this fully happens, the boys have a little love triangle with a girl name Sarah, who like both of them as friends equally (but does prefer one boy romantically over thew other) and it slows down the pace of the boys having to admit how they feel about each other.
Adding to the mix is Mark’s dad Tom who seems compassionate as he was courting Jack’s mom, but once Tom and Mark move into the house you can slowly see the hostile situation Mark’s in. The whole thing was done so intelligently and was so perfectly teenager.

And then there’s the other concept and ideal in the film, Gun Control.
The entire movie is a flash back as the characters tell their story to a police officer investigating a crime.
So this is where you really want to turn back if you have never seen the movie cause something might slip as I talk about the movie.
The movie’s gun agenda seems to sneak up on you just to make sure that you are fully thinking about the subject.
Early on in the film they show the three teenage characters being thought by Tom how to fire a gun. For me it seemed very innocent and harmless, but what the movie does show is that despite teaching someone how to properly handle a gun, some people are not emotional fit for such a responsibility.
While the police officer was interviewing the characters it comes out that one character did something with a fire arm that seemed like an accident at the time but as the cop grilled him he realizes that he may have been fueled by emotion, the type of person that should not play with firearms.
As You Are worked on so many levels. The story of these teens was brilliantly done with good acting and a brilliant story from a filmmaker who remembers what it was like to grow up in the 90s listening to grunge to ease the pain of awkward youth. Adding to the awkwardness is finding yourself in a world that has made you think it would not want to see the real you, and this type of combo would not make for a person you want to give a gun to.
Really like it.