Director: Crystal Moselle
Year Released: 2015
Rating: 1.5
The Angulo brothers, homeschooled and trapped in their run-down Manhattan apartment with their parents and sister (mostly because of Dad's supposed paranoia about the outside world), occupy their time by watching films and staging re-enactments (a little like the Kuchars before them), using various household items to construct their costumes. Although it's (allegedly) based on a true story, there's something suspicious about this "documentary": sure these kids like movies a lot, but something at a gut level suggests director Moselle was a little too involved in 'constructing' their story and serious questions about the household are never given even remotely adequate answers (here are a few: how was Child Services not alerted about this? exactly how much money is the family given? is Dad too touchy-feely? is/was there abuse? etc.). Sometimes the brothers, when in public, sound like they're reciting dialogue and their "wonderment" at nature and "being outdoors" comes across as forced; the second half of the movie, once the guys are 'mostly free,' doesn't offer much to say about their dreams or goals (although I like the costumes for their short film at the end). As with Greene's Actress ... the eternal skeptic in me says something's off (and deliberately deceptive) about this.
