If they ever handed out bingo cards at the Sundance film festival, Take Me to the River would cover the board in no time. You’ve got the gay teen, angry redneck relative, implications of molestation, funny sunglasses and a pop song on the soundtrack that seems to arrive from nowhere. This is not by any means a good movie, but there are a few key moments that crackle, suggesting that first time film-maker Matt Sobel may come back with something more worthwhile some day.
Logan Miller plays Ryder, a good-natured gay teen from Los Angeles joining his parents on a trip to his mother’s family reunion in Nebraska. Mom (Robin Weigert) asks Ryder to play down his homosexuality – not to lie, but to avoid bringing it up, for fear of causing a fuss with her more conservative relatives. During a cook-out Ryder wanders off to a barn with his scrappy nine year-old female cousin Molly (Ursula Parker) and there is an incident.
Suggestive of Dr Aziz and Adela in the Marabar Caves, accusations swirl as young Molly runs screaming back to the assembled family. But Sobel’s writing is far removed from EM Forster, or David Lean adapting him. After a well-shot sequence of tension involving Ryder’s dad (Richard Schiff) and uncle (Josh Hamilton), the movie downshifts into a straightforward dry patch where no one behaves like a recognisable human being.
There is a third act twist (the specifics of which I’ll dance around) that cuts to the heart of what people will remember about this movie, assuming they discuss it at all. Rare is there ever a frank discussion of pre-pubescent sexual curiosity, particularly on film. Look at the fire and brimstone that was hurled at Lena Dunham when she confessed to inspecting, as a child, her baby sister’s genitals. There’s a moment in Take Me to the River that is in no way pornographic or lewd, but suggestive enough to bring about intense unease. Who knows how the censorship board will handle it.
I’ll give Sobel the benefit of the doubt and say his film doesn’t court controversy for the sake of marketability. Unfortunately, other than breaching a taboo topic, there’s not much to differentiate Take Me to the River from countless other mopey indies about dysfunctional families.
