Cherry (2010, R)

Judging it by the cover and the title I expected this film to be a raunchy, goofy, lame comedy about a guy trying to loose his virginity.  I have never been so pleasantly surprised in my life.  Netflix lied to me: it's not a comedy.  It's a piece about a 17 year old intellectual named Aaron who graduates high school early and is starting his freshman year at an Ivy League university.  His mother is very controlling of his life and though he enjoys art and is good at it, she insists his course-load consist entirely of academic/engineering classes (his intention is not to avoid engineering and do solely art, but to include it).

I was most impressed by how accurate it was to the experience a lot of people have when first transitioning to college life.  While the specifics of his situation are mostly particular to him (though not unheard of for others), the generalities are pretty universal.  He's in an alien environment, mostly in charge of himself for the first time, along with other 18-year-old animals unleashed into their own pseudo-society.  He adapts to the continuously strange environment as best he can, meeting new people and experiencing new things.

Aaron is played by Kyle Gallner (The Haunting In Connecticut, A Nightmare On Elm Street [2010], Red State).  Through much of the film Gallner's face has the same grimace that leads me to believe that the actor is actually in chronic pain.  But that works for this movie because he was/is supposed to be uncomfortable or downtrodden in these scenes.  And there were a couple moments in which he demonstrated that he can form a nice smile as well.  Unlike his previous performances (which were not bad), this one got to show a little more range in his capabilities (quite possibly because he's the lead actor in a character piece).


"When I'm happy, my face goes like this."

Comparing this to other films I've reviewed, this film is most like The Four-Faced Liar and Shrink. 

If you liked Art School Confidential then you should love this movie.  For me, it's 5 stars.