Interesting.

Canadian film. it'll probably suck.

I didn't dare to look at those discussions. I don't think I could stand it, hehe.

MJ - just read anything posted by lutrai06. To find the other one I'd have to read thru all the muck! 

I liked it. I saw the film a few months back and it had already secured American distribution, so a DVD at least will be available someday.

Aaron Webber in the leading role is very good. A candidate for one of my votes in next year's AFTI poll.

Opens in NY: April 6, 2007
in LA: April 20, 2007

Well, I think this is my next film to watch.  Just found it.

Turns out the Yahoo discussion is no longer around.



Also got Twelve and Holding...

So... I just saw "Whole New Thing" and thought it was quite good, really.

I don't know what others have said (I was going to read the Yahoo thread, but when it turned out not to be there, I decided it was probably better just to see it without any prejudice; I don't quite see what's so controversial, actually.  Do people not believe that 13-year old boys might have a crush on a guy teacher?  Anyway, I found it quite realistic and believable...  Even the parents seemed pretty authentic to me.

If I were to try to GUESS what people didn't like about (or found disturbing about it) I'd say that it was probably something about the relationship between Aaron's character and his teacher.  Or that Mr. Grant (his teacher) WAS a teacher of adolescents at all.  Something about being contagious,  having undue (negative) influence, or that all homosexuals are also promiscuous pedophiles or something (just like all heterosexuals are monogamous and prefer OLD women, I suppose).  Anyway, it's ridiculous to think that this was anything other than real.

Perhaps the problem they have is that the 13-year old was the "aggressor."  Naturally, no adolescent (boy or girl) could possibly be the curious one; that's unthinkable and disgusting.  If a kid is going to fall in love with an older person, especially someone 30 years senior, there must be some sort of seduction going on ... sort of like "normal" students who have crushes on their (appropriately-gendered) 6th grade teachers or movie stars or camp counselors... that kind of thing never happens, right?

Maybe they just don't believe that his teacher would have resisted the relationship (the kiss, the sauna, the attention) as much as he did.  That goes back to the belief that ALL homosexuals are perverts and pedophiles.  Because "normal" guys do such a great job refusing the advances of underage women at bars and nightclubs...

So... basically, I think the thing that people DON'T like about this movie, when they don't like it, is that it SCARES them... whatever their own personal reason is for being scared...   because they see the truth in it, and the truth is FAR scarier than the fiction of Eden.

So, in short... I liked the film a lot, and I found it real and enthralling.  Aaron played his role extremely well, IMHO, and I'm sure at least SOME part of the population has applauded his willingness to tackle it and do such a fine job.  For a Canadian film, I thought it was pretty good, although if it had been made in Scandinavia...