User Reviews

Very ambitious movie and subject matter. I think the Director was able to portray some of the incredibly hard decisions that are made by our teenagers today.

The cinematography was OK. The car crash was accomplished well without a real car crash. I think some of the characters were a bit too clueless. I have friends that were cops and parents. NOTHING got passed them! So, the police mom was too clueless for my taste.

Now I do know firsthand how parents think their kids are angels, but I also know how untrue that is. So, in that regard, this movie strikes a great chord of truth.

Even though I can acknowledge the serious issues of this film, it was almost agonizing to get thru it. The actors were OK at best, the characters weren't consistent with their own desires and the pacing was way too slow. Elise seemed to be the main character yet the structure only loosely supported her. The tone was very heavy handed. Overall, "The Art of Escape" rates at a very amateur level. Teenagers do stupid things sometimes and seemingly without provocation, and this film had the chance to show the motives behind such erratic behavior -- it touched on it here and there, but mostly missed the mark. And it's very hard to feel for such characters or to be on their side. An example is when Elise chased Charlotte even when Charlotte rebuked her, then followed Alianna because of the chance to meet with Charlotte and when Charlotte finally comes back, Elise doesn't like it when Alianna makes fun of Charlotte but then goes off with Alianna -- ??! Elise didn't approve of the shoplifting, didn't approve of the drugs, then turns her back on everything she cares about and follows Alianna -- no, not buying it, her turn from concerned friend to wild child was not believable (and it should have been). There were some good points though. The car crash was nicely handled production wise. The quick cuts and split screen when the kids got high were a nice touch. Would love to see more of that kind of influence in the photography and editing like when Charlotte and then Elise goes down the dark road with Alianna. The last shot of Alianna with her next "conquest" sitting a few feet from Elisa who was sitting a few feet from Charlotte was such a nice display of the relationships of these girls and gave this film a strong ending.