L.I.E.
L.I.E. is an independent film released in 2001 about the relationship between a teenaged boy and a pedophile known as "Big John". It was directed by Michael Cuesta and starred Paul Franklin Dano as the boy and Brian Cox as the pedophile. Child sexual abuse is merely suggested, not shown, and there is only one sex scene between an adult couple. Still, the extremely controversial portrayal of "Big John" as human and sympathetic earned the film the NC-17 rating, usually considered the "kiss of death" for a movie. The title is an acronym for the Long Island Expressway. Howie Blitzer (Dano), still reeling from the death of his mother in a car accident on the titular highway, finds his only solace in the company of his best friend Gary (Billy Kay), a juvenile delinquent and amateur prostitute who he has a kind of crush on. One night, they break into the house of "Big John" Harrigan (Cox), a closeted pedophile and Gary's main "customer". They steal a valuable WWII vintage pistol John kept from his service in WWII. John is angered by the loss of his heirloom and retaliates by threatening to hurt Gary unless Howie returns the gun or comes to work for him. At first, Harrigan tries to molest Howie by showing him pornography, but Howie, startled and confused, rejects his advances. The two begin a tenuous, non-sexual friendship in which Harrigan becomes a kind of father figure to the boy. Harrigan's compulsions, however, combined with Howie's burgeoning homosexuality and the imprisonment of Howie's distant father (Bruce Altman) create an uneasy atmosphere in which sexual interaction is a definite possibility. Near the end, vulnerable because he believes his father has abandoned him, Howie stays the night at John's house expecting John to sleep with him. But as John informs Howie his father didn't abandon him, but is instead in jail, Howie breaks down and cries in relief. In his compassion for Howie, John fixes him a bed and leaves him to sleep by himself, much to Howie's dismay. The next morning, after taking Howie to see his father in jail, John is shot and killed by a former lover. Despite negligible box office earnings, the film recieved much critical acclaim, especially for Cox's performance.
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