The Hideaways (2011)

The Furlong men all have miraculous powers of one sort or another. James' grandfather goes blind for 37 minutes if he even thinks about sex. His dad fries electronic equipment when frightened. James' power is even more terrible, he sucks the life out of anything around him for a wide distance if he is sick and injured. After causing a series of terrible tragedies he runs away and lives alone in the woods for fear of the destruction he might cause. He stays hidden for ten years until Mae, a young girl with terminal cancer wanders into his life after running away from the hospital where she is being treated. You’ll have to see the film to find out what happens.

A dark fantasy/fairy tale on the order of the Grimm Brothers or some of the best known works of Neil Gaiman and similar writers, this is a film that is one of the finds of the Tribeca Film Festival. It’s a wonderful film that is ballsy enough to dwell in the darkness and to not talk down to it’s audience. It’s film for those who like the darkness in say the Twilight saga but found those, and similar stories kind of soapy and too fantastical. It’s the weird cousin, in a way, of the Princess Bride but set here and now.

It has a couple of of great characters, especially Rachel Hurd-Wood as Mae. She’s the narrator and the heart and soul of the film. She’s the one that the girls will relate to and the guys are going to love. If the film works it’s due in large part to her stellar performance.

I should say that I wasn’t really planning on seeing this. It was the sort of thing I was kind of interested in, but wasn’t sure but I had to fill some time so I put it into my que only to find that it knocked my socks off. Trust me on this, this was the 6th film of 7 on the day I saw it, the 20th film in four days, the 39th film in all of the Tribeca related screenings to that point, and my tolerance for bullshit and crap was really low. I was really impressed by this good little film.

Okay, full disclosure, as much as I was impressed by this film I wasn’t the absolutely right audience for the film. There are things in it that aren’t my cup of tea. That said as I watched this film I was constantly going “Eden needs to see this” or “Randi needs to see this” or “Lee needs to see this”. All through out the film I kept picking out people I really needed to show this film to because I know so many people who would absolutely LOVE this film.

Walking out of the screening I stopped by and met the producer Jean Luc Ormieres who was sitting on a couch. I told him how much I liked the film and how I wanted to go off and tell people about the film. I also told him I was a member of the press and that I was planning on writing up this film. This is that review. I hope that this does this small treasure justice. I don’t want to over sell the film or tell you too much I just want you to get enough umph to get out of your chair and go see this film.It may not be your best of the year, but I do think you’ll like it.

Actually what I’d like to see happen is for this film to find a distributor who is going to nurture it into finding it’s audience. This is the sort of film that isn’t going to be a huge hit on day one, but it is going to be one that will get it’s audience via word of mouth and by friends taking friends to it or by friends pressing copies of it into friends hands. This is a film that’s going to be a hit once people start to see it and discover it.

Go discover it.