The United States of Leland 2003 123movies

Watch: The United States of Leland 2003 123movies, Full Movie Online – As a detached kid spends time in juvenile hall for the unspeakable murder of a special needs kid, a writer and the people around him try to comprehend and cope with his reasoning for commiting this murder from the writings in a classroom book from his juvenile class, where he tries to let people know “the why”..
Plot: A withdrawn young man, Leland Fitzgerald is imprisoned for the murder of a mentally disabled boy, who also happened to be the brother of his girlfriend, Becky. As the community struggles to deal with the killing, Pearl Madison, a teacher at the prison, decides to write about Leland’s case. Meanwhile, others affected by the murder, including Becky and her sister, Julie, must contend with their own problems.
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Ratings:

	7.0/10 Votes: 23,608
	34% | RottenTomatoes
	37/100 | MetaCritic
	N/A Votes: 261 Popularity: 8.919 | TMDB

Reviews:

Good acting; flawed story/psychology; not a total loss
The title comes from an alteration an adolescent inmate in a correctional facility makes on the front cover of his school book on government, titled “The United States;” he adds “of (his name).”

Many characterizations in this movie work well — the scenes between Leland (Ryan Gosling) and Becky (Jena Malone), Pearl (Don Cheadle) and father Fitzgerald (Spacey) as well as with Leland, Becky and sister Julie (Michelle Williams), among many others.

But the central thread of this movie — the fulcrum on which everything hangs — is the character and motives of Leland. He’s a somewhat shy, passive, nice high school student who daringly introduces himself to Becky whom (we find) is going to an alternative school because of a past history of drug problems. In Becky’s family, she has a sister, Julie, who’s just graduating from high school and preparing to go on to college; Julie’s boy friend, Julie’s age (and whose parents’ had recently died) is also living with them.

Leland lives with his mother; his father (Kevin Spacey) and mother have long been divorced and his father is a famous novelist. Leland is very perceptive. The young boy in “The Sixth Sense” saw dead people; Leland sees teenage lovers and recognizes that years later they will divorce, that pain is going to follow many people’s present experience of happiness. BUT, for reasons that are never made explicit, his prescient gift seems to operate some times, for some people, some relationships, and not for others. ???

Parts of the movie feel a bit like a derivative quilt — borrowing from “American Beauty,” “The Sixth Sense,” “The Graduate,” and possibly some others I didn’t recognize. That wouldn’t be bad if only the character of Leland worked.

I think Gosling did a great job of playing Leland but the script and the story imposed limitations. Would such an observant, meditative young man ever be homicidal? Even for altruistic reasons? Nothing in the film gives a reason for this. I’m a retired therapist with much experience working with families and teenagers; while many of the reactions shown in the film work — this part, this most essential element certainly does not.

And there is at least one other element which, in my experience, would not fit with real life although it’s not as critical. The reason for the differences between the sisters, Becky and Julie, are never hinted at but that’s okay. Once two sibs begin occupying different roles (one the all good girl, the other the troubled one), the roles themselves can begin driving each other to more extreme positions. For the troubled one, Becky, it’s kind of, “what do I have to do to be loved around here — give up being me and become Julie?” And the pressure to live up to being the All-Good, parent-pleasing child, is no less intense on Julie. So, why would she break up with her boy friend of long-standing and of whom her parents so obviously approve?

Don Cheadle was good as Leland’s teacher; all others were good in their parts. 98% of the scenes were good. What was missing was that crucial slip in understanding human nature.

Good acting; flawed story and psychology; worth seeing; not a total loss.

A bad hair day for the middle classes
Despite tackling such weighty subjects as murder, drug addiction and depression ‘United States of Leland’ manages to have all the pain of a TV movie about a slight weight fluctuation. The problem does not lay with the excellent cast but with the fact that they don’t have anything to do other than look miserable and spout some portentous dialogue now and then.

The film is about the travails of the dysfunctional middle class and is aimed squarely at the self same middle-class, but this isn’t a mirror to reflect their complacency, merely a gentle panacea so they can congratulate themselves if they haven’t had to deal with this many problems in their lives and nod concernedly as the wonderful Anne Magnuson looks a bit miserable at her son’s funeral.

Maybe the director wanted everyone to seem as though they were just drifting through life unable to feel a thing, but I, for one, wanted one of the characters to let rip like Kevin Kline at the end of The Ice Storm when all the pain and rage pours out of him in a drunken moment of despair and pain. All the way through the film I was waiting for the bland exterior to be ripped away to reveal the raw beating heart of the movie but this, alas, is never to happen. Even prison isn’t too bad in this film – just an inconvenience which means that the characters can’t get to feel the sun of their faces as much as they’d like. The director never manages to convey that the characters are repressing their feelings nor that they are really suffering, they just stoically trudge around in their designer gear looking a bit put upon.

The United States of Leland is directed with all the drama of a headache advert ; sure Jena Malone’s hair goes a bit lank and stringy every time she has some heroin but that little fashion crisis is about as much insight into her suffering as we ever get. Ryan Gosling wanders around and makes a few vaguely poetic statements about strawberries and it isn’t until the very end of the film that the viewer begins to understand what led to his actions and by then I , for one, was just about beyond caring.

The United States Of Leland is a film that promises much but never delivers. It wears its class on its sleeve and the presence of such a good cast seems to be all the justification it needs to exist. This isn’t a BAD film as much as it is a lazy film; a quasi-poetic study of depression and sadness without any real feeling

Other Information:

Original Language en
Runtime 1 hr 48 min (108 min), 1 hr 48 min (108 min) (Argentina), 1 hr 44 min (104 min) (Ontario) (Canada)
Budget 0
Revenue 343847
Status Released
Rated R
Genre Drama
Director Matthew Ryan Hoge
Writer Matthew Ryan Hoge
Actors Ryan Gosling, Don Cheadle, Kevin Spacey
Country United States
Awards 1 win & 2 nominations
Production Company N/A
Website N/A

Technical Information:

Sound Mix Dolby Digital
Aspect Ratio 1.85 : 1
Camera N/A
Laboratory FotoKem Laboratory, Burbank (CA), USA
Film Length (6 reels)
Negative Format 35 mm
Cinematographic Process Spherical
Printed Film Format 35 mm (Kodak Vision 2383)