Hide Your Smiling Faces
Starring: Ryan Jones, Nathan Varnson, Colm O'Leary
Director: Daniel Patrick Carbone
Rating: 4/5
Daniel Patrick Carbone is set to make his feature film directorial debut this week with Hide Your Smiling Faces.
Carbone has written and directed the film, and it played at the BFI London Film Festival last year. It really was one of the festival highlights, and I am thrilled to see it getting a release this week.
After a neighbourhood tragedy, two young brothers -- nine-year-old Tommy (Jones) and 14-year-old Eric (Varnson) -- confront changing relationships, the mystery of nature, and their own mortality.
A dreamlike portrait of adolescence unfolding over one hot, hazy summer, Hide Your Smiling Faces explores rural American life through the distorted lens of youth.
Hide Your Smiling Faces is a terrific coming of age story, with two great central performances from Ryan Jones and Nathan Varnson.
This movie marks the feature film debut for both Jones and Varnson, and they really are two young acting talents to look out for.
This is a powerful, touching, authentic, and refreshing film that follows two boys who are dealing with death for the first time.
We every much see the world through their young, naive, board, and inquisitive eyes - you really do feel like there is a lot of the filmmaker in this film. The story feels so personal and from start to finish, you are connected with it and the characters.
This is a very good first film from Carbone, and I am excited to see him develop as a director and a writer over the next few years. He has shot this film with a lot of love and passion, and that really does seep through in every scene.
Carbone has very much made stillness a character in the film, as he uses very little dialogue and no music - and yet this makes Hide Your Smiling Faces an even more powerful and riveting watch. He doesn't need either of these two elements to tell this story.
We have been treated to some wonderful independent films so far this year, and Hide Your Smiling Faces is another that is not to be missed.
Hide Your Smiling Faces is released 1st August.