Imagine being at a crossroad and having to choose between paths without knowing where each one leads. That is the situation Howie Blitzer (
Paul Franklin Dano), finds himself in. Overlooking the
Long Island Expressway (the unabbreviated title of the film L.I.E. directed by Michael Cuerta), teeming with
speeding cars, he utters the film’s tagline quote “there are lanes moving east, lanes moving west, and lanes that go straight to hell." Howie might be pondering how a turn on the
highway, decided in seconds time, may cause a
fatal accident like the one that killed his mother Sylvia. Or he might be thinking about the
consequences of the
risky decisions he makes in life. Will they draw him into trouble or leave him unscathed? Having to make choices on his own without the knowledge of how the world works is a
dilemma that plagues every teenager. While many movies focus on the fun aspect of the teenage years, this one explores their instability and
uncertainty.
Howie’s vulnerability makes him extend his trust to people who could take advantage of him and drag him into dangerous situations. Saddened by his mother’s death and estranged from his father, Howie cherishes his attachment to his friend Gary. So when he is offered to accompany Gary (Billy Kay) to a
stealing mission, he peevishly accepts to follow along naively trusting that his friend won’t get him into
trouble. While it may be tempting to say that he should have known better, the choice makes sense in the context of his life. A
criminal activity may obviously stand out as an egregious error in judgment, but not to a lonely
teenager who may otherwise lose his only friend. The director is very skillful in making the viewer understand Howie’s desperate need for
belonging and
friendship is liable to make him take
extreme risks. Howie even thinks about running away from home and going to California with Gary.
Howie faces another equally perilous decision in which his need to find
companionship and understanding puts him in danger of becoming a
victim of sexual abuse. The boy is drawn towards “Big John,”(Brian Cox), a 55 year old man, who provides him with
support. This happens at a difficult moment when Howie finds that his father is not at home and fears that he has been abandoned by the parent. Locked out of his house, he agrees to spend the night at Howie's house, even though. John helps Howie through his worries about his
father (who, as Howie later finds out, was
arrested) by giving him a room to stay. In a poignant scene, the boy cries on the old man’s shoulder.
However Howie’s
trust towards John is mixed with
suspicion. Despite accepting the old man’s help in a difficult time, Howie knows he might regret it later. While letting Howie stay at his place, John hasn’t yet forced the boy into
sexual activity. However, the older man’s casual references to his
sexual preferences, along with photos of young boys lying around, constantly hint at the threat. Thus the viewer, along with Howie himself, doesn’t know how it will have played out; whether the boy has wisely picked a friend in time in need or made himself a victim of
sexual abuse.
The double nature of John’s
personality as
nurturer and
abuser is the most
unnerving aspect of the film. It shows that tendency sexually
predatory behavior isn’t that easy to detect. The media-image of the
pedophile as the withdrawn, sullen man with a
demonic glint in his eyes makes one think that we can easily identify and shield ourselves from such men. However, John’s
charming and
friendly demeanor makes him seem like a likable guy. The fact that his vicious habit appears to be separated from the rest of his personality reveals the painful truth that it’s not easy to protect against evils like
pedophilia because they can spring out unexpectedly from outwardly normal individuals.