It's 1957. Leonardo di Caprio plays Toby, a teenage boy living with a severely dysfunctional family. The story is true, being the autobiography of Tobias Wolff who is now a university professor and author.
Toby has the family from hell, a scatter-brained mom, an abusive step-dad and a strange step-sister. Mom used to be an unsuccessful uranium prospector in Utah. Step-dad both verbally and physically abuses the family, Toby in particular. He's a personal failure, and wants to see that no one else should succeed either.
Leo plays the part very well. Long before Jack and Titanic, he shows that he can act. He is the convincing teenager, no longer a kid and not yet a man. Puzzled at why the world treats him so badly, and trying to figure out what he can do about it.
His weak point is his singing. It is truly awful to listen to him singing along with the rock and roll soundtrack. That his voice was breaking doesn't help. Yet the same voice is so convincing as he argues with his step-dad, in that mix of boy and man tones that is so representative of adolescence.
His face reflects the teenage angst that is the main point of the movie. Good looking, it shows the mixture of fear and optimism that an abused boy would feel.
That Toby made it out of his family is a given, otherwise we wouldn't have the story. For a movie on the same theme of a boy trying to escape from his family and his small town see Stand By Me with Wil Wheaton and River Phoenix. River was one good looking boy, and if he had not come to a tragic end, he would be today a rival to Leo.
Toby has the family from hell, a scatter-brained mom, an abusive step-dad and a strange step-sister. Mom used to be an unsuccessful uranium prospector in Utah. Step-dad both verbally and physically abuses the family, Toby in particular. He's a personal failure, and wants to see that no one else should succeed either.
Leo plays the part very well. Long before Jack and Titanic, he shows that he can act. He is the convincing teenager, no longer a kid and not yet a man. Puzzled at why the world treats him so badly, and trying to figure out what he can do about it.
His weak point is his singing. It is truly awful to listen to him singing along with the rock and roll soundtrack. That his voice was breaking doesn't help. Yet the same voice is so convincing as he argues with his step-dad, in that mix of boy and man tones that is so representative of adolescence.
His face reflects the teenage angst that is the main point of the movie. Good looking, it shows the mixture of fear and optimism that an abused boy would feel.
That Toby made it out of his family is a given, otherwise we wouldn't have the story. For a movie on the same theme of a boy trying to escape from his family and his small town see Stand By Me with Wil Wheaton and River Phoenix. River was one good looking boy, and if he had not come to a tragic end, he would be today a rival to Leo.