Review

A bevy of excellent performances (led by a remarkably nuanced Rory Culkin) anchor this bittersweet and slightly surreal tale in which the impending threat of Lyme Disease surrounds the adolescent tedium of suburban Long Island in the late 1970s.

If The Ice Storm had had a sense of humor, it might look a little something like this year’s Festival closing night film, in which director Derick Martini (who, with his brother Steven, co-wrote the film based in part on their own Long Island upbringing) offers a sarcastically bemused look back at the “halcyon” days of the late ‘70s and explores the dark underbelly of the societal decay of the period without its predecessor’s opprobrium. Rory Culkin stars as Scott Bartlett, a disaffected teen who’s surrounded by dysfunctional adults. His father Mickey (Alec Baldwin) is a gung-ho real estate developer who has hauled his reluctant, streetwise wife Brenda (Jill Hennessy) to Long Island. Pining for the Bronx, Brenda is so freaked about deer ticks that she duct tapes Scott’s sleeves closed whenever she fears he’s venturing into the woods. Scott spends his days languorously, trying to find himself amidst the emotional chaos of his family — a task complicated when his brother (real-life bro Kieran) comes home on military leave. He is also suffering an awkward sexual awakening, propelled by an intense puppy crush on his neighbor Adrianna Bragg (a dazzling Emma Roberts), whose mother (Cynthia Nixon) is shagging, coincidentally, his dad. With witing humor and spot-on acting, this accomplished drama captures the painful excitement of coming-of-age.

 -- Eric Moore