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Theresa Montierros Film Review The Heat: Despicable Me 2

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There are potential spoilers in this review of Consent, so please read with caution.

We've all had one event in our lives that completely rocked our world. For me, it was probably my grandmother's early and sudden death. Things changed after that. I got angry. I got bitter. I was 13 and didn't understand why someone so close to me had to die, especially in the way she did. And I acted out in ways that changed me as a person. I'd like to think it was the crossover from being a child to becoming an adolescent for me, and thankfully, the anger, bitterness and hurt didn't affect me forever. But in the interim, I went through some dark times that were revisited again in my early 20s, and again now, at age 30. I don't think you ever forget the first death that affects you. It re-affects you as you're exposed to subsequent deaths.

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That's basically the premise of Consent, an indie film directed by Ron Farrar Brown and starring Peter Vack and Troian Bellisario. I'm a fan of off-the-cuff, non-mainstream movies, so I decided to give this one a try. I wasn't disappointed. The entire cast worked together to paint a picture of pain, discomfort, taboo subjects and the beauty within the moments between them.

Consent begins with the family visiting the grave of their oldest daughter, Samantha (played by Betsey Brown), who committed suicide a few years before. It's unclear at first whether the family still has three children, as Samantha appears as a hallucination to the oldest son, Josh. The three teens fall upon Samantha's grave, laughing inappropriately, which sets the scene for the entire movie. Nothing about this family is normal, and nothing about their grief is, either.

High school senior Josh (played by Peter Vack) is trying to hold himself together while looking after his baby sister, Amanda (played by Troian Bellisario). Josh sees his oldest sister Samantha everywhere, and his grief is palpable in the fact that he can't let her go. She gives him advice on how to deal with everything, most specifically Amanda, a junior in high school, who is spiraling down a dangerous path with an abusive boyfriend. She's reckless and uncaring, and the relationship Josh has with his little sister is one of a close, overprotective brother. They seem a little too close, really, and that's one of the biggest problems -- they are too close to be objective to their situations or to the growing discomfort of their sexuality.

Theresa Montierros Film Review The Heat

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