Product: Going All the Way (1997)
Rating: 5.0
Fady Ghaly's reviews
This film, while it may be regarding every boy's life growing up in whatever period of decade, not necessarily the nineteen-fifties, it can really relate to anyone. Not only does it voyage into Sonny Burns' yearning for sexual fulfillment, but it also concerns the mothers of these individuals, who just don't know when to let go, and it also voyages into the power of friendship, into the bond of two young men-one of whom being Sonny-returning home from the Army to discover that their attitudes on life, love, and the town in which they grew up in have altered in this bittersweet coming-of-age drama. Their chemistry was natural, and together they visually generated an improbable coalition rather than some silly contrast. Both men are circumscribed and callow, their inducement is focused on their genitals, and yet they burn with idealism, with fevered fantasies of their own eventual triumph (. . .)The theme which caught my attention most was that of Sonny's sexual frustrations and afflictions with his parents, whose religious beliefs are a matter in which they still assume he opts to follow, or rather neglect to face the fact that he just may no longer want to, like many individuals emerging a certain age, who'll depart from the past and take their own path to whatever life and career that awaits them. But it's not that Sonny necessarily was growing out of the whole scene of going to church every Sunday morning and saying a prayer before going to sleep. It's more that, as detestation grew within him over the years, he has grown to hate God for never bothering to give a helping hand when needed one to pull him out of all this wretchedness, the misery of waking up each morning knowing that he is trapped inside the same slender, opprobrious body and enduring the same life that seemingly never really has any light shed upon it (. . .) I was utterly moved and empathized such tortured souls, for I am quite similar to this character, thereby this very genuine film opens a tremendous amount of interest for its viewing, for I, every time I watch it, feel as though I was watching myself-resemblance between us is that great. I'm not so much proud to admit of the fact, but it's nice to see a film that doesn't concern the usual farfetched subject matters regarding the most inane things, and one that rather concerns issues which can resemble amongst many others out there, such as myself, for instance. Jeremy Davies was terrific depicting this character, capable of delivering both humor and great poignancy to the screen like the natural that he is.After having to deal with well over fifty actors whose goal was to obtain the roll of Sonny Burns-which essentially exemplifies how many others relate to this character and would like to express their feelings of rage, if you will, on screen-Jeremy Davies impressed the filmmakers with his uncanny take on the character; his brooding, indistinctly-uttered performance ideally captures Sonny's underlying indignation, confusion, and insecurities (. . .)While this synopsis may seem like the premise of a nineteen-fifties feel-good movie, Going All the Way emphatically subverts in any evoked nostalgic feelings. Its twisting narrative veers from relatively straight-although ennui-laden-jesting boy talk to surreal trips into Sonny's disturbed inner world, culminating in a profound and painful moment of sexual humiliation. So while it may seem as a direct comedy, it really isn't, as such a character's deepest desires disintegrate and are clear that a mere "fantasy" is all they'll conspicuously be. Besides, since when has a film that features graphical scenes of those in the progress of slitting their wrists in an attempt to use such unusual actions as a method of rehabilitation, been humorous by any means? Since when, huh? My advice to you would be to ignore the ostentatious synopsis on the back of both the VHS and DVD package, which bluntly describe the film as a "romantic comedy."