This movie is a unique and powerful story of how a grieving 13 year old boy meets an even more grief stricken 50 year old man and they help each other heal from their tragic losses of loved ones. Lead actor and director James Russo plays former High School English teacher Bob Madden who crosses the path of Ray Coombs (John Babbo) and his 12 year old buddies Kevin (Matthew McGuire) and Jimmy (Mesiyah Oduro) playing baseball one summer vacation in suburban Chicago. Bob befriends the boys but remains a mysterious and intriguing enigma to the them as he introduces them to classics of American literature.
Ray in particular is captivated by Bob who inspires him to write poetry and more. Bob's seemingly curious interest in these boys understandably raises the ire of Ray's stepfather unearthing Ray's grief from having lost his father in a traffic accident three years before. The stepfather's complaint to the local police detective leads to a dramatic climax when Bob, having told Ray and the boys to not be part of his life anymore, rescues Ray from a severe beating by a neighborhood bully only to be arrested and charged with assault by the overanxious detective.
As Bob's sister (with whom he stays in her restaurant) bails him out of jail, the truth of what happened to Bob's wife and two sons (similar age to Ray and his friends) comes out. They too were tragically killed in a car accident enroute to a vacation in Maine that Bob did not go on because he was asked to stay back and run a summer school camp program. His guilt kept him from attending both the funeral and even the grave until he showed up three years later on his sister's doorstep.
Bob's experience as an English teacher gives Ray a window into the world of a writer as he embarks upon his own writing with Bob's encouragement and these early adolescent boys' embrace of Bob despite the surface weirdness of the association helps him heal from his tragic loss.
Russo and Babbo brilliantly carry this movie that features some long silences as the powerful emotions at stake are able to play out on screen. The only niggle is that casting 15 year old Babbo, whilst he did a great job, you could easily tell he wasn't 12 or 13 so that did slightly dent the authenticity of the story line as there is a big emotional maturity difference between 15 and 13 year old boys.
Ray in particular is captivated by Bob who inspires him to write poetry and more. Bob's seemingly curious interest in these boys understandably raises the ire of Ray's stepfather unearthing Ray's grief from having lost his father in a traffic accident three years before. The stepfather's complaint to the local police detective leads to a dramatic climax when Bob, having told Ray and the boys to not be part of his life anymore, rescues Ray from a severe beating by a neighborhood bully only to be arrested and charged with assault by the overanxious detective.
As Bob's sister (with whom he stays in her restaurant) bails him out of jail, the truth of what happened to Bob's wife and two sons (similar age to Ray and his friends) comes out. They too were tragically killed in a car accident enroute to a vacation in Maine that Bob did not go on because he was asked to stay back and run a summer school camp program. His guilt kept him from attending both the funeral and even the grave until he showed up three years later on his sister's doorstep.
Bob's experience as an English teacher gives Ray a window into the world of a writer as he embarks upon his own writing with Bob's encouragement and these early adolescent boys' embrace of Bob despite the surface weirdness of the association helps him heal from his tragic loss.
Russo and Babbo brilliantly carry this movie that features some long silences as the powerful emotions at stake are able to play out on screen. The only niggle is that casting 15 year old Babbo, whilst he did a great job, you could easily tell he wasn't 12 or 13 so that did slightly dent the authenticity of the story line as there is a big emotional maturity difference between 15 and 13 year old boys.