Posted: 04/19/2004

Runaways

(2003)

by Alexander Rojas

Brent Bambic’s Runaways explores the motives behind the reasons so many youths leave their families and homes for a dangerous and mostly bleak environment on the streets.

The lead character of Runaways is Steve, who endures a physically abusive relationship with his stepfather and a mother who places the blame for the abuse on her son. Steve retaliates towards his stepfather and soon finds himself in the custody of the police. His mother doesn’t want him back in the household, leaving Steve to find his own means for shelter. He finds out about a home for troubled teens that provides shelter, food and therapy and in return the teens must attend school, obtain part-time employment and a place to stay all within the length of a month stay. In this time, Steve meets several other troubled teenagers with common abusive backgrounds. He comes to develop a friendship with two other young men, Mike and Andy, the latter of which hides a serious drug habit. Andy’s crack use jeopardizes his stay at the home and while Andy allows himself to be lost in the streets, Steve maintains focused and mostly disciplined to survive in his runaway life and not be another victim of a broken home and of the corruptive streets.

The story itself is simple and during certain scenes moving. The character of Andy is the most compelling and interesting of the teens. This credit goes to Esteban Powell (Dazed and Confused, Powder) with a heartfelt sensitivity and damaged approach to an otherwise cliché role. Andy’s downward spiral throughout the movie ends with Steve seeing him at his worse. What happens to Andy after that is left to assumptions for the characters and us. For this reason I’m just glad he wasn’t killed or found dead, otherwise the constant questions of how much worse can it get for Andy would be left out, making the film less effective.

The cast overall, although mostly convincing and effective in their portrayals, are at times over acting in their roles causing moments of near crinching in my part. The teen actors are mostly forgivable but the performances of the adult actors in this movie were at times as brutal as the characters they portray. Given some of the acting experiences most of these actors have, perhaps a more critical eye should fall upon the director.

The film addresses the significant role parents have in this American epidemic of runaways. The troubled teens in this film are aware of who’s at fault for their problems, but refuse to place any responsibility upon themselves. Steve however does not allow the past to be a complete burden to his future and this alone is the most significant message the film makes.

Alexander Rojas is a critic for Film Monthly. He once ran away from home. Well, actually, he just got lost out in the suburbs, but made it home in time for supper.

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