A Nebraskan family reunion couldn’t seem more backwards to a gay Californian teenager when a bloodstain on his young cousin's dress makes him the unwitting suspect of abuse and places him at the center of a long buried family secret.
Take Me to the River is Picnic at Hanging Rock-level cagey about its central mysteries, and while many of its characters know what happened off-screen in both the recent and distant past, they ain't sharing the details with us, just their pain.
The menace never becomes palpable, whether because of illogical plot lines or questionable casting. The stakes are so high, but the suspense never rises to the occasion.
Yet another dysfunctional family drama indie film, writer-director Matt Sobel's Take Me to the River has its flaws. But on the whole, this is an impressive feature debut.
The movie pivots from what I expected it to be: a family drama about an outsider, as the opening conversation suggests. Instead, it becomes an eerie mood piece about secrets buried deep in a family's fabric.
The cheap use of the hot-button issue of pedophilia coupled with negatively minded ignorance regarding homosexuality is not only offensive but-far worse-completely uninvolving
You'll have to see for yourself what a slender plot line, well-chosen parts, and skillful directing can achieve with a handful of rich characters and a deceptively peaceful setting.
Chicago Reader
May 26, 2016
Matt Sobel transforms a nightmare he once had into an evocative, original drama.
