10½

2010
7.1| 1h56m| NA| en| More Info
Released: 29 October 2010 Released
Producted By: Zoofilms
Country:
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
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Tommy, 10 years old, is well known by Social Services. He is considered a danger to society. Gilles, his guardian at this halfway house, sees potential for redemption in this kid driven by violence.

Genre

Drama

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10½ (2010) is currently not available on any services.

Director

Daniel Grou

Production Companies

Zoofilms

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10½ Audience Reviews

BlazeLime Strong and Moving!
Stevecorp Don't listen to the negative reviews
Anoushka Slater While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.
Marva It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,
Andrew Koropets Firstly, I need to say that team(director, actors...) did great stuff. I have never seen such movie before. And want to thank for such film cause it shows that not everything is well in our life. I see that during shooting psychiatrists were involved and showed us real dregs' of society life. Have been shown properly the connection between sex and aggression. You cannot make good by applying strict and violence. I mean, nevertheless child so bad behaved we always must show him the another way otherwise he would reject the whole world and we will have replenishment in crime in future when this child grows up.If I were that teacher I would behave myself even more discreetly with such boy.
dannydenshaw Having heard many positive reports about this film I sought it out for months. Although I'd have been happy to pay for a download or a copy on optical media I eventually had to resort to underhand methods of online acquisition -- and then, finding the Canadian French dialogue and its Quebecois argot incomprehensible, go on a further search for subtitles.Was it worth the effort? For me, certainly; but I stop short of recommending it to others.The story, such as it is, centres around 10 year-old Tommy Leblanc (played with outstanding skill and sensitivity by a 13 year-old Robert Naylor). Tommy is from a broken home, a thorn in the side of social services. He is short-fused, violent, inappropriately sexualised and gets sent to (what we in the UK call) a secure unit, or locked children's home, for assessment.The question posed is whether young Tommy is a hopeless psychopath in the making or whether he can respond to the professional help from the well-intentioned but overstretched staff at the unit.The signs don't auger well. Within minutes of the opening title we've seen Tommy masturbating to a hard-core porno-movie, forcing a younger boy to commit an act of gross indecency and then getting his face beaten to a (sickeningly realistic) pulp by that kid's older brother. (I did say that this film pulls no punches, didn't I?) Then within days of his arrival at the home, he's kicking off in the face of the staff's best efforts to support him, smashing the place up and creating a thoroughly nasty atmosphere for both his carers and the other volatile young boys resident there.Personally, I found Robert Naylor's performance (ably supported by Claude Legault's portrayal of his sympathetic but long-suffering key-worker) heart-wrenching and deeply moving; but then I'm a teacher of kids with emotional and behavioural disorders. I can quite understand how, to anyone without a special interest in child psychology, Tommy would come across as an insufferable little brat who deserved what was coming to him -- negating what, I assume, is the fundamental message of the film.I'm not knocking it. Daniel Grou's direction is first-class and the cinematography, using hand-held cameras that give the piece that air of a reality TV show, together create the grim aura of a facility for disturbed youth with considerable aplomb. And however one views him, Tommy comes across as real -- scarily so. Could this really be a child actor depicting so vividly the rage and panic descending into desperation for a badly damaged little boy? But in my view this is in spite of rather than thanks to the screenplay. Convincing though the characters' emotional responses may be, they all lack depth as people. There is little development of either the characters or the narrative, despite the manifest opportunities to do so.Given that the film is clearly well-researched and skilfully constructed, I can only assume that this was intentional on author Claude Lalonde's part. And, fair dues, in real-life situations such as these, the players often do come across as two-dimensional; nothing particularly interesting does happen beyond things getting broken, staff getting stressed and tempers getting frayed. But this is not reality TV. It's a screenplay, a feature film, and I guess in that context I hope for just a l'il bit more.And if you're not going to use the wonderful potential of Tommy's inadequate beatnik father (for whose portrayal Martin Dubreuil deserves an honourable mention) and his mentally ill mother as vehicles to develop the narrative then why bother to introduce them as nothing more than failed parental stereotypes? Not to mention Tommy's encounter with the paedophile Nomand towards the end which could have been (and may have been intended as) a thoughtful counterpoise to the opening scene but in the event was an all-too-predictable and meaningless throw-away.As for the ending, what an underwhelming anti-climax! It may have addressed, in part, the question posed at the beginning but I think most of us had worked that one out mid-way through the film. This is not an easy movie to watch: it's disturbing -- harrowing in parts -- and to fob an audience off with such a weak finale isn't "minimalist" in my view; it's a con.Nevertheless, this is a powerful piece of cinema and, though it won't be for everyone, it deserves wider distribution and recognition than it has.
p.newhouse@talk21.com This film is not entertainment, it is education. it tackles a very difficult subject in a detached, non-judgemental way, and the director achieves the feel of a fly on the wall documentary, which is exactly right for the tone of the piece. A small boy called Tommy does something dreadful to a smaller boy at the beginning of the film, and the film follows Tommy (Robert Naylor), who is already known to social services, in the aftermath. Tommy's story is told through flashbacks, and through the research his newly assigned Educator (Keyworker), Gilles (played by Claude Legault) does. The acting is superb, and the subject matter so well researched that the complexity of Tommy leaves you torn between hating him for what he did, and wanting to hug him and tell him everything is going to be OK. There are other characters, but they mostly serve as plot tools. Some of the scenes are extremely harrowing, but taken in context, you will see that they are necessary to the story.
Giedrius G Daniel Grou is a French Canadian director (mostly TV) in 2010 At Sundance film festival he came with shocking horror thriller genre movie 7 Days (horror fans must see) ... now brings disturbing and a bit provoking drama 10 1/2 10 1/2 is about problematic boy named Tommy. Tommy is a foster child who has developed violent behavior he lands under social worker Gilles Séguin (played by Claude Legault) care in some kind of children's home.Hes angry, hes aggressive hes indecent. Day by day living on the edge, struggle through even craziest world.highly recommended. unique movie, brilliantly actingFor more movies http://www.imdb.com/user/ur23690923/?ref_=nv_usr_prof_0