Arts & Entertainment


'Leland' explodes suburbs

Direction, acting combine for moving exploration of character, humanity

By Ray Hafner
The Daily Cougar

It's usually the case that the movie is never as good as the book. But in the case of The United States of Leland it's doubtful that any book could ever rise to match the visual beauty of what is a strikingly literary film.

Set in the suburbs of Phoenix, Leland tells the story of a bizarre and chilling murder that shocks the bedroom community for its sheer inexplicability. Leland P. Fitzgerald is an accused killer, a teenager who personifies the expression, "wouldn't harm a fly." He is sent to a juvenile detention center where he meets his teacher, an aspiring writer named Pearl Madison. Madison smells a book and so begins the process of understanding Leland's horrific crime.

Madison is played by the ever-so-talented Don Cheadle, in a role similar to the guidance counselor he played in last year's equally impressive Manic. Ryan Gosling is a sight to behold in his first major role, bringing a tenderness and honesty to Leland that endears the audience to him. Viewers will want to believe him; But there are no easy answers in Leland.

"You want a why, maybe there isn't one, maybe this is just something that happened," Leland says to Madison during an interview session.

But director and writer Matthew Ryan Hoge certainly has something to say ? he just doesn't say it up front. He hides meaning in subplots, including one where Madison cheats on his long-time girlfriend.

"I'm only human," Madison defends. "It's funny how people only say that after they do something bad," Leland challenges.

There's an incredible depth to Leland's suburbia, and a well of characters there. The film also boasts the actors to match the material, with the nearly infallible Kevin Spacey as Leland's father, a successful writer, but lousy dad who's also after publishing gold in his son's story. Jena Malone, too talented and too seductive for such a young actress, turns in a layered performance as Leland's unstable girlfriend. Lena Olin plays Leland's mom, and while she isn't given much to do, she does it admirably. Chris Klein nearly steals the show as the boyfriend of the victim's sister.

The characters interact and respond to each other in a way that's rare for even independent movies to achieve, further evidence that an Oscar for Best Ensemble should be created.

The only problem with the film is that it takes too much time unwrapping its meaning. Hoge sometimes forgets to set the action and characters, leading to confusion about who's who early on.

But the slow and methodical manner in which he reveals his story is rewarding in the end. The literary aspirations of both writers, and Leland himself in a journal from which the film derives its name, reveal a fascinating study in character, human nature and ultimately the value of life ? one that's likely to stick with a viewer for a long time.

The United States of Leland

Rated: R

Starring: Don Cheadle, Ryan Gosling

Paramount Pictures

The verdict: Gosling's performance alone is worth the price.
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