I Like Movies

Directed by Chandler Levack, I Like Movies follows film-obsessed teen curmudgeon Lawrence Kweller (Isaiah Lehtinen) as he attempts to earn enough money for college by working at a local video store – where he befriends a quirky manager (Romina D’Ugo’s Alana) with problems of her own. Filmmaker Levack, making her debut here, delivers an earnest and mostly engrossing coming-of-age story that boasts an incredibly compelling (and periodically unlikable) figure at its core, as Levack does a superb job of transforming Lawrence into a fully-realized, completely convincing protagonist that grows more and more sympathetic as time progresses – with Lehtinen’s stirring performance going a long way towards heightening the character’s irresistibly authentic vibe. (It doesn’t hurt, either, that Levack has elicited equally strong work from her supporting cast, with, especially, D’Ugo offering up a top-notch turn that’s enhanced by a showstopper of a sequence wherein Alana recalls a tragic incident from her past.) The picture’s compulsively watchable vibe, which is perpetuated by an ongoing emphasis on fun, cinephile-friendly episodes and encounters (eg Lawrence recommends Todd Solondz’s Happiness to a preppy couple), paves the way for a predominantly captivating midsection, and although Levack admittedly does stumble here and there (eg the needlessly quirky, comedic bent of a conflict-resolution meeting), I Like Movies is, for the most part, a stellar debut (and palpable love letter to cinema) that bodes exceedingly well for Levack’s future endeavors behind the camera.

***1/2 out of ****