Movie

L.I.E.

2001 · 97 min

A quietly unsettling and sad coming-of-age story that lingers in uncomfortable moral grey areas.

Overview: With his mother dead and his father busy at work, Howie feels adrift in his New York suburb. He and his friend Gary spend their time burglarizing their neighbors' homes — until they make the mistake of robbing the house of Big John, a macho former Marine who is also an unrepentant pedophile. He propositions Howie, who declines, but the two eventually develop an unlikely and dangerous friendship.
How it feels: Bleak, melancholic, tense and earnest. Slow-burning and demanding.
About: Coming-of-age, identity, isolation, grief
Content: Strong sexual content and language. Mild violence. No gore.
Note: Written by AI, so it can be wrong. Full breakdown

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Written by AI. It can be wrong.

Full breakdown

Tone: bleakstrength 3 of 3
melancholicstrength 3 of 3
tensestrength 2 of 3
earneststrength 2 of 3
Pacing: slow-burn, 1 of 4, from slow-burn to relentless
Attention: demanding, 4 of 4, from background-friendly to demanding
Themes: coming-of-age
identity
isolation
grief
sexuality
Places: suburbs
home
Era: contemporary
Audience: adult
Form: None
Content intensity: Gore none
Language strong
Violence mild
Sex strong