Crutch (2004)

User Rating:

5.4/10   

Director:

Rob Moretti

Writers:

Paul Jacks (writer)
Rob Moretti (writer)

Release Date:

17 September 2004 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

A young man... His teacher...Crossing boundries

Plot:

An autobiographical film taken from the experiences of writer-director Rob Moretti, CRUTCH is a coming-of-age...

Plot Keywords:

Actor | Thirty Something | Autobiographical | Coming Of Age | Drinking

Cast

Eben Gordon	...	David Graham
Rob Moretti	...	Kenny Griffith
Juanita Walsh	...	Katie Graham
Jennifer Laine Williams	...	Julia
Jennifer Katz	...	Maryann (as Jennifer J. Katz)
James A. Earley	...	Jack Graham
Robert Bray	...	Michael Graham
Laura O'Reilly	...	Lisa Graham
Tim Loftus	...	Zack
Sylvia Norman	...	Linda
Frankie Faison	...	Jerry
Tia Dionne Hodge	...	Janice
Michael Ellison	...	Bobby
Salvador Castillo	...	Drug Dealer
Michael Philip Anthony	...	Casting Director #1

MPAA:

Rated R for sexual content, language and drug use.

Runtime:

USA:88 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:R

Filming Locations:

New Jersey, USA

Company:

HP Productions LLC

Movie Connections:

References Bambi (1942)

Great movie, horrible DVD.

The movie itself deserves a higher rating, however the poor quality DVD compression lowers the score.

First, the movie! It's fantastic! It's human in every way... beautiful, horrifying, heart aching, wrenching, tender, flawed, alluring, endearing and intense. Rob Moretti has created a dramatic whirlwind of emotion that elevates his film leagues above the pantheon of other coming-out / coming-of-age films. Thankfully, clichés are out the window and typical composite caricatures are not on Moretti's menu. We get humans in all their faded, rough, raw and yet stunning glory utilized to tell a life's story of hard-hitting realism as a young and impressionable teenager is taken advantage of by an older, more experienced man. From their flirtatious first meeting to their horrific parting of ways and every scorching moment between, we are privy to Moretti's life in a fascinating, voyeuristic way. The lead performances are amazing! Eben Gordon, Rob Moretti and Juanita Walsh are true standouts; their performances are human, gripping and visually arresting as we are treated to such rare and believable nuances of character it's like watching a documentary. I simply cannot wait for Moretti's next film! Now, the down side. Unfortunately movies of this caliber rarely see more then one DVD pressing… Hollywood thinks that America is more interested in mega special editions of the latest cheese-fest starring Tom Cruise (and who can deny those box office numbers, America has never as a whole had very good taste). Therefore it is utterly disappointing to see such a spectacular film get such horrible treatment. The compression is so poor that it's distracting while watching the film. Compression artifacts are abound; pixelation aplenty and colors are off. There are ghost images, blacks are muted and details are lost. Upon close inspection I discovered that the DVD compression company greatly disserviced the film, its creators, performers and audience by cheaply utilizing only half of the available space on the disc resulting in a sub-par movie experience. Worst of all, we get a non-anamorphic transfer to a 2.31:1 image. In this day and age of advanced televisions and players there is simply no excuse to offer non-anamorphic DVDs. Combine that with such a shotty transfer and it undermines the very foundation of the medium and is tantamount to spitting in the face of the intended consumer. With a $24.99 suggested retail price one certainly expects much better quality. This is truly disappointing!