Breakinger A Brilliant Conflict

SteinMo What a freaking movie. So many twists and turns. Absolutely intense from start to finish.

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Invaderbank The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Lee Eisenberg Brad Renfro's untimely death brought this movie to mind. I haven't seen Joe Esterhasz's "Telling Lies in America" in a few years, but I remember that it was a good movie, Esterhasz's reputation notwithstanding.It goes like this. Karchy Jonas (Renfro) is a Hungarian immigrant in Ohio in the early '60s. He has trouble fitting in with the world around him, partly due to his trouble pronouncing a "th" sound, and feels disenchanted with the Catholic church that he and his father Istvan (Maximilian Schell) attend. But when he hooks up with DJ Billy Magic (Kevin Bacon), his luck changes...with some strings attached.I interpret this movie as sort of the flip side of "American Graffiti". In that case, they were all the same ilk and all fit in with everything. In this case, Karchy tries to fit in but has trouble doing it, and so his only option is to hook up with the shady Billy. More than just a nostalgia piece - though there are some oldies - we see Karchy's inner conflict between his desire to be a modern American, and trying to maintain his ties with his past.Overall, I recommend this one. I think that it would have been kind of fun to play that trick with the confession booth. And just remember what people tell you about Spanish flower.Also starring Calista Flockhart.

EighthSense I'll try not to repeat all of what the other reviewers have written already. Kevin Bacon is unbelievable in this role, he wears his part as a slick, sexy, supremely confident and laid-back DJ so well. He makes it impossible to imagine any other actor in this role.Every scene he appears in is to be savored. His voice is ideally suited for the broadcasts he makes. Seeing his easy charm and friendly manner is no wonder the young, innocent Kartchie idolized him. Visually, the movie is beautiful, rich, with a great soundtrack, excellent screenplay, in short, 100% enjoyment.Very nicely photographed, with very good sound direction.

spj-4 I thought this movie was okay but not excellent It had the makings of excellence but didn't deliver mastery. 'Frustrating' is a word that comes to mind for my opinion of it.I liked its music, even its plot, & innocence of some of its characters. I liked too, the underlying moral dilemmas of a young man of sincere & genuine character struggling with the plight inflicted upon him & them in broader prospectives.But it has unimportant matters glossed over, without explanation or rationality, except for naivety for the gullible. Like the DJ Bacon character & his protégé (& others supposedly exacting this scenario in other cities) but so detached from the reality of their situations.LIES is the underlying motive of integrity in situations anything but far from black & white. So it could have been the title of a film disguising lies. But it was not guilty of that by truer assessment.So what about layers of LIES??? Are little white lies beyond a couple of persons, not surely to be distinguished from blatant & career or character destructive lies, layer upon layer, lawyer upon lawyer, judge upon judge, to be evaluated as lies??? So a movie that is 7 out of 10 is neither 5 or 9 out of 10!

SaxoTenor When I was a performing musician in Paris, France in the 1960's I often used to play a tune entitled "Night Walk". In this movie the same tune is played but is called "Sleep Walk". How could the same tune have two titles? Does anyone know the answer to that? Otherwise the film was not so hot unless you have nostalgia for views of Cleveland, Ohio. How come the Hungarian refugee had no foreign accent? And I failed to understand why the George Washington question and answer session gave the judge the right to allow citizenship for both the father and son in spite of the fact that the son had obviously lied to the Grand Jury. Oh well! It's only a movie and doesn't necessarily have to be believable, n'est-ce pas.