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Topic: The United States of Leland

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	The United States of Leland (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-05)
		While writing The United States of Leland, I was also working as a teacher in the Los Angeles juvenile court system.
		Leland, a frail sixteen-year-old with vulnerability in his eyes does not seem capable of the act he committed.
		What do I hope The United States of Leland is? A lively, emotional, and colorful film about characters struggling to do the right thing, about finding hope in difficult circumstances, about discovering the goodness that is buried in people.
	www.paramountvantage.com /leland/letter.html (545 words)

	DVD Verdict Review - The United States Of Leland
		The United States of Leland is an imperfect character study for pessimists.
		The murdered boy is the brother of Leland's former girlfriend, Becky (Jena Malone, Donnie Darko).
		The opening shot in The United States of Leland is a blurry image with overly bright colors, showing bits and pieces of a scene: it's the aftermath of the murder.
	www.dvdverdict.com /reviews/unitedstatesleland.php (1303 words)

	THE UNITED STATES OF LELAND
		Leland debuted at the 2003 Sundance festival, which should give you some indication that something ain't right about it, since we're talking about its release some 14 months later.
		Brooding Leland P. Fitzgerald (Ryan Gosling, Murder by Numbers), the son of popular novelist Albert T. Fitzgerald (Spacey, The Life of David Gale), stabbed to death the autistic younger brother (Michael Welch, Joan of Arcadia) of Becky Pollard, the junkie who used to be his girlfriend (Jena Malone, Cold Mountain).
		Leland includes a glut of Frank Black music (both solo and with the Pixies), as well as a couple of Jeremy Enigk numbers.
	www.sick-boy.com /usleland.htm (430 words)

	Join Protests of United States of Leland Film
		Leland's teacher in prison (Don Cheadle, in a role Hoge says is based on his own experience) is a softhearted liberal inexplicably fascinated by this shrugging, inarticulate kid.
		Leland is a brooding teen beaten down by the emptiness of a life of privilege.
		Leland says in a voice-over that he now realizes he did what he did because there was so much sadness all around.
	www.namiscc.org /Advocacy/2004/Spring/Leland.htm (3222 words)

	United States Of Leland
		After seemingly ordinary 15-year-old Leland stuns his quiet suburban community with a chilling crime, he is sent to juvenile hall where he meets Pearl, a teacher and aspiring writer who dreams of making Leland's compelling story into a book.
		United States Of Leland follows a similar pattern to the movie Thirteen, both films made their debut last year.
		Leland is almost Forrest Gumpish, at least at first I thought that's what he was trying to be.
	www.dvd-dweeb.com /reviews/unitedstatesofleland.htm (842 words)

	Leland News
		Leland on DVD - According to DVD Pacific, The United States of Leland will be available on Region 1 DVD on September 7.
		The United States of Leland looks like another entrant into the growing genre of suburban angst movies, which means one of Enigk's songs will surely be played while a family eats dinner at an impeccably-furnished table and makes pitifully stilted attempts to speak to one another.
		Struggles between Madison and Leland pére, both of whom stand accused of mining the boy for material, as well as the actions of Leland's girlfriend Becky (Jena Malone) and her sister's boyfriend Allen (Chris Klein), are only part of a complex and wonderfully produced film rich in moral ambiguity and questions about the human condition.
	www.drivingmrspacey.com /TheUnitedStatesOfLelandNews.htm (3153 words)

	calendarlive.com: MOVIE REVIEW - 'The United States of Leland'
		"The United States of Leland" is an ambitious and intelligent film probing that chronic contemporary phenomenon, the seemingly senseless crime, but it is ultimately unsatisfying for all its efforts and various pluses.
		Leland, a high school student in an upscale L.A. suburb, commits a terrible crime but has no memory of it.
		That Leland seems so unlikely a criminal and especially that his father, Albert (Kevin Spacey), is precisely the celebrated author Madison craves to become himself drives the teacher to press on.
	www.calendarlive.com /movies/reviews/cl-et-leland2apr02,2,7741446.story (762 words)

	MovieFreak.com - "The United States of Leland" DVD Review
		As Pearl delves into the mystery of Leland's crime, he also sees the chance for a career-making book as the boy's estranged father is the world-renowned author, Albert Fitzgerald (Kevin Spacey).
		Parts of the script are well-realized in terms of good scenes, and the actors do a pretty good job with their roles, but ultimately the film doesn't deliver the way it could have.
		In Leland, the viewer is treated to a more rounded set of characters than in Manic, and the drama works its intentions for a while, but in the end I can't say I was impressed or moved one way or the other.
	www.moviefreak.com /dvd/uvw/unitedstatesofleland.htm (393 words)

	U.S. of Leland
		"The United States of Leland may be the worst assault on the worth of the lives of people labeled 'mentally retarded' in many years," says Not Dead Yet.
		We asked Contributing Writer Cal Montgomery her thoughts on why Leland Director Matthew Ryan Hoge might have used the killing of an autistic teen as a plot device.
		Leland's problem, the film would suggest, is that "he is just too damn full of empathy," says Not Dead Yet.
	www.raggededgemagazine.com /mediacircus/leland.html (1423 words)

	Review: United States of Leland (52 out of 100) (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-05)
		Leland Fitzgerald (Ryan Gosling) is sent to prison after stabbing a mentally challenged kid twenty times and saying he did it for "all the sadness in the world." His prison teacher, Pearl (Don Cheadle), finds him fascinating, with insight and intelligence far above the other inmates.
		It is in Leland's journal that all of his writing is reflected in every one of these characters and explains actions the way they really are with humans being human.
		The United States of Leland carries a great performance by Don Cheadle and a promising film debut by Matthew Ryan Hoge, one wishes this were a better film than it actually turned out to be.
	www.cc.utah.edu /~jwb11/leland.htm (468 words)

	The United States of Leland (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-05)
		The sad-eyed teacher at Leland's maximum-security juvie hall is played by the consistently disappointing Don Cheadle, an actor who has yet to live up to his breakthrough performance in Devil in a Blue Dress and does little to inspire confidence in what is essentially the guidance counsellor role in a particularly clumsy teen tragedy.
		The none-too-subtle message carried in the film's title is that Leland is par for the post-Columbine course in millennial America, but Hoge doesn't have the courage to let be and thus provides countless opportunities for all involved to pontificate on the abysses pounding in their chests.
		The United States of Leland plays out like a student film from a particularly pretentious student: a tease of a picture that seems surprised that the big ideas it has aren't enough to fill its running time, and so resorts to repetition and unforgivable inflation.
	filmfreakcentral.net /screenreviews/unitedstatesofleland.htm (427 words)

	Living Corpse » Reviews » United States of Leland, The (2003) (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-05)
		“The United States of Leland” is far from the first movie to tackle this strange 21st century malaise; last year's Zach Braff vanity project, ““Garden State,” dealt with many of the same things, as did offbeat existential comedy ““I Heart Huckabees,” to name just two movies off the top of my head.
		The titular Leland is a remarkable young man. Strangely detached and inexpressive, he is far from unemotional: Leland sees beyond the surface happiness of the world through to the sadness at the core of all life, the sadness that most people manage to overlook.
		A combination of events leads Leland to commit an unthinkably cruel act; his self-centred father is a writer, who lives on another continent, and substitutes plane tickets to random destinations for fatherly interaction; his girlfriend is an ex-junkie who falls off the wagon and breaks up with him.
	livingcorpse.com /reviews/unitedstatesofleland.shtml (787 words)

	Amazon.co.uk: The United States Of Leland [2003]: DVD: Don Cheadle,Ryan Gosling,Chris Klein,Jena Malone,Lena Olin,Kevin ... (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-05)
		Centered around the life of 16 year old Leland (Ryan Gosling) in prison for murdering a mentally retarded boy and his interactions with his prison school teacher Pearl Madison (Don Cheadle) we are drawn into the cold unemotional world of Leland as Pearl studies him for a book he intends to write.
		Leland is the icy centre of the grief and anger he has caused.
		The United States Of Leland is some what a hidden Gem in my opinion, it's an original film and well written to, in a time where we are swamped with sequels, remakes and adaptions of popular books.
	www.amazon.co.uk /United-States-Leland-Don-Cheadle/dp/B0007NBJR8 (1015 words)

	United States Of leland film movie trailer review at The Z Review
		Premise/Synopsis :a teenager, Leland, faced with issues of morality and hope under difficult circumstances, who is arrested and sent to juvenile hall, after he kills an autistic child out of sympathy.
		United States of Leland will be released in the UK on R2 DVD on the 25th October 2004.
		Premise: This is the story of a sensitive teenager, Leland (Gosling), faced with issues of morality and hope under difficult circumstances, who is arrested and sent to juvenile hall, after he kills an autistic child out of sympathy (sort of like an emotional euthanasia).
	www.thezreview.co.uk /comingsoon/u/unitedstatesofleland.shtm (463 words)

	Metroactive Movies \| 'The United States of Leland'
		Leland may have become a killer after that painful discovery that someone can love you and still sleep with someone else.
		That's the Holden Caulfieldy aspect of The United States of Leland; when you get older, Catcher in the Rye becomes a less important book because it's impossible to recapture that sense of outrage, once you become a corrupt adult, one of them.
		The United States of Leland (R; 104 min.), directed and written by Matthew Ryan Hoge, photographed by James Glennon and starring Ryan Gosling, Kevin Spacey and Don Cheadle, opens Friday at the Nickelodeon in Santa Cruz.
	www.metroactive.com /papers/cruz/04.07.04/leland-0415.html (616 words)

	The United States of Leland
		That word, "mistake," repeats often in "The United States of Leland," uttered by many of the players in this sometimes powerful, sometimes awkward drama of teenage isolation and angst.
		As the shock waves caused by Leland's crime spread through his suburban community, we're introduced to the friends and family who shape his past and future.
		But the movie also boasts moments of quiet power, as it chronicles friendships Leland makes in prison, the evolving relationship with his teacher and the struggles of his victim's family to cope with the senseless tragedy.
	www.roanoke.com /roatimes/news/story166362.html (384 words)

	Amazon.ca: The United States of Leland (Widescreen): DVD: Matthew Ryan Hoge,Don Cheadle,Sherilyn Fenn,Ann Magnuson,Lena ... (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-05)
		Leland is just as confused (and can't remember committing the act), but he reveals more and more clues as he gradually opens up to Pearl.
		The United States of Leland certainly gets caught up in concept at the expense of execution, but writer/director Matthew Ryan Hoge does probe some interesting if overburdened ideas in his chosen topic.
		In the meantime you must watch as both Leland's faily and the victim's family are tearing apart from within themselves.
	www.amazon.ca /United-States-Leland-Widescreen/dp/B0002I8372 (862 words)

	April 2004 \| blackfilm.com \| reviews \| film \| united states of leland
		The United States of Leland is a highly dramatic film that ultimately collapses under its own weight.
		Leland is arrested and sent to a juvenile detention center.
		The film never explains why Leland is the way he is. He's not really fleshed out as a character and that's troubling in such a dramatic film.
	www.blackfilm.com /20040402/reviews/theunitedstatesofleland.shtml (814 words)

	The United States of Leland (2003): Ryan Gosling, Kevin Spacey, Don Cheadle, Chris Klein - PopMatters Film Review
		Leland, it appears, has knifed to death a harmless and, significantly, mentally handicapped boy, Ryan Pollard (Michael Welch).
		Leland is arrested and sent to juvenile detention while adults attend to legal proceedings.
		Intrigued by the fact that Leland defaces his history workbook (specifically, he carves his name alongside the title, "The United States of...," apparently indicating a profound sense of ego or alienation or both), Pearl makes him a project.
	popmatters.com /film/reviews/u/united-states-of-leland-dvd.shtml (1139 words)

	The United States of Leland (2003) (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-05)
		Plot Outline: "The United States of Leland" tells the story of a young man's experience in a juvenile detention center that touches on the tumultuous changes that befall his family and the community in which he lives.
		Leland is such an intricate, amazing character that really makes the audience stop and think about their own life and their own actions.
		And Leland definitely did that for me. Gosling's performance is eerily touching, and the rest of the cast, including Kevin Spacey, Don Cheadle, and Jena Malone, put on great performances as well.
	www.imdb.com /Title?0301976 (379 words)

	The United States Of Leland - Movie Review
		In The United States of Leland, vaunted young actor Ryan Gosling ostensibly plays the mysterious title character, Leland P. Fitzgerald, a teenager facing a prison sentence for the murder of the mentally challenged younger brother of his ex-girlfriend Becky, but for the most part he’s doing a passable Jake Gyllenhaal impression.
		Leland makes (too many) pithy observations starting with “people always say” in some scenes, and seems borderline autistic in others; the lack of connection between these aspects of his character marks the difference between intrigue and genuine fascination.
		Yet I was never bored with The United States of Leland — if Hoge is a little too attached to his characters and the actors who embody them, it’s understandable.
	www.contactmusic.com /new/film.nsf/reviews/theunitedstatesofleland (613 words)

	TheMovieBoy Review - United States Of Leland, The (2004)
		This provocative notion is at the forefront of "The United States of Leland," a shattering glimpse of the way a community reacts when the erratic killing of an innocent suddenly hits close to home.
		When his divorced mother, Marybeth (Lena Olin), walks in and sees his hand bandaged up, Leland can only tell her, "I think I made a mistake." Leland knows what he did, even though he has no palpable memory of it, and is promptly arrested, his face plastered all over the papers and news.
		With "The United States of Leland," writer-director Matthew Ryan Hoge has crafted a remarkable first feature, and the level of talent he found to work in front of the camera proves his depth and talent in bringing this touchy subject to the screen.
	www.themovieboy.com /reviews/u/04_usol.htm (1619 words)

	The United States of Leland
		Because he is the son of a world-renowned author (Kevin Spacey) and his motive is a genuine mystery, he becomes a touchstone for controversy.
		Leland's haunting tale probes the impenetrable secrets of the suburban American family and explores the resonance of a single violent act, revealing its effect on the families of the guilty and the innocent.
		I'd like to believe that The United States of Leland offers an audience a chance to go on the same journey that I had teaching.
	www.movienet.com /unitedleland.html (879 words)

	The Seattle Times: Movies: 'United States' message lost in muddled drama (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-05)
		Everyone's miserable in "The United States of Leland," a grim, muddled melodrama about a suburban kid (Ryan Gosling) who commits a horrible crime.
		But Leland's crime (murder of a disabled child) is so appalling, and his flat, sad-sack demeanor so unreadable, that the ultimate effect is perhaps the opposite of Hoge's intentions.
		Something in Leland is definitely monstrous; though his family and community seem baffled as to why.
	seattletimes.nwsource.com /html/movies/2001898748_leland09.html (417 words)

	United States of Leland, The (2004): Reviews (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-05)
		The United States of Leland is tedious yet infuriating, since its characters, all of whom seem to have emerged from a screenwriter's manual, are like exhibits in a thesis meant to indict the middle class for the crime of its collective dysfunction.
		When Leland sees the kid trying to ride through the tree, he sees that though the kid may want to progress, there are obstacles that will never allow it.
		The United States of Leland is, at the very least, full of talented actors that made their characters come to life, especially Leland.
	www.metacritic.com /film/titles/unitedstatesofleland (1332 words)

	The United States of Leland - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		The United States of Leland is a 2004 dramatic movie by director Matthew Ryan Hoge and producer Kevin Spacey about a meek teenaged boy named Leland P. Fitzgerald (Ryan Gosling) who has inexplicably committed a shocking murder.
		In the wake of the killing, his teacher in prison tries to understand the senseless crime, while the families of the victim and the perpetrator struggle to cope with the aftermath.
		In USL, Leland lives with his divorced mother while his girlfriend is part of a family of five: father, mother, two sisters, brother.
	en.wikipedia.org /wiki/The_United_States_of_Leland (424 words)

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