L.I.E. is an audacious film that dares to complicate simplistic stereotypes about parenting, nurturance and desire. This first person retrospective narrative is told by a fifteen year old boy coming to terms with the death of his mother. L.I.E. is both Long Island Expressway (where traffic also consists of gay sex trafficking) as well as the lies that we are all fed by society about what constitutes normality.' The film then progresses as Howard, the teenage protagonist grapples with his grief, his adolescence and his loneliness sometimes through poetry and at others through petty crimes. The chief triumph of this film lies in its courage to probe the fundamental decency and humanity in characters like Big John who, in popular media, are often represented and dismissed as disgusting lechers. The relationship between Howie and Big John is complex as it alternates between playboy and parent; as erotic desire animates and creates a space of refuge and safety. In many ways the film resembles the wry cynicism and dark humor of American Beauty but where Kevin Spacey's character was endearing even as he leered at young teenage girls Brian Cox is less likely to find sympathy from his audiences. But this owes more to the fact that we live in a heterosexist, homophobic society, fed on LIES than to the failings of the actor.
