"Mean Creek" evokes end-of-childhood turbulence
Jacob Aaron Estes' haunting "Mean Creek" rings with painful truths. It's a story about childhood, set at that precise moment in the life of a child — in this case, Sam (Rory Culkin), who's 13 — that changes things forever.
In a small Oregon town, six kids go on a river trip, with differing expectations of the day. George (Josh Peck), the school bully, thinks he's been invited to a birthday party. Millie (Carly Schroeder) thinks she's going on a first date with shy, sad Sam. Sam's older brother Rocky (Trevor Morgan) thinks the trip is a cover to wreak revenge on George, who's been cruel to Sam at school. And Rocky's pals Clyde (Ryan Kelley) and Marty (Scott Mechlowicz) are along for the ride, thinking that picking on George sounds like good sport.
They're all regular-looking kids, with acne and scruffy clothes, and Estes' film, in its first half, wonderfully captures the rhythms of how kids talk — and, in particular, the behavior of kids on the cusp of adolescence. (George, Millie and Sam are all middle-school age; Rocky, Clyde and Marty are a few years older.) Millie, an angelic-looking girl with blond braids, sidles up to Sam on the playground, after George has tormented him.
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"If you could snap your fingers and he would drop dead, would you do it?" she asks him, and you see Sam struggling to give an honest response.
The only girl in the movie, sensible Millie serves as the voice of reason on the river trip — but nobody listens. But before tragedy strikes, something strange happens on that stolen boat. George, who up until now has seemed the worst kind of villain, emerges as a child desperate to be liked. He brings a wrapped gift to the "birthday party" and eagerly explains how much Sam will like it. He shows off, in a fast-talking, attention-seeking way, trying to ingratiate himself with the majority, whoever they may be. And we find our loyalties swerving, like that boat on the waves.
Estes, in his feature-film debut, helps his gifted young cast (particularly Culkin, Schroeder and Peck) find a level of honesty in their performances that's rare — you feel like you know these kids, that they could be from any school or any playground. The film struggles a bit in its third act — we're brought to an emotional peak on the river, and from there the movie has nowhere to go.
But Estes has an uncanny knack for creating character, and for finding the kind of throwaway detail that resonates — the dull two-tone ring of a convenience-store door, for example, seems to speak volumes about the boredom and restlessness these kids face.
Remember Estes' name; "Mean Creek," with its sad grace, looks to be the start of a fine career.
Moira Macdonald: 206-464-2725 or mmacdonald@seattletimes.com