STANDING UP

US, 2013, 100 minutes, Colour.
Chandler Canterbury, Annelise Basso, Radha Mitchell, Val Kilmer.
Directed by D.J.Caruso.

D.J.Caruso has tended to be a director of thrillers including The Salton Sea, Taking Lives, Disturbia. However, he has professed liking for the young adult novel, The Goats, by Brock Cole. He has adapted it for the screen and directed the film.

The Goats are two young children who are picked on by boys and girls at a summer camp, their clothes taken, their being left on the island of goats. Instead of giving up, the young boy, Howie, Chandler Canterbury, small and bespectacled, decides to take initiatives for himself and for the young girl, Grace, and Annelise Basso. She is unwilling at first, very timid, phones her mother who urges her to be tough. The couple go through quite a number of adventures, eluding the children in the camp as well as the authorities. They use initiative in going into houses, finding clothes, something to eat, including Grace being courageous enough to divert a hostile kiosk seller while Howie steals some clothes for them. They also spend a night in a motel, shrewdly getting the key of a room from a departing family and telling the managers that the family was staying another day.

They also take refuge with children from another camp, where they are welcomed, expect for the young boy who makes advances on Grace but is tripped by Howie – who, though he was in tears and ashamed, is invited by Howie to join in a group photo with the others who are kind.

There are also picked up by suspicious man, Val Kilmer, who turns out to be a police officer who contacts Grace’s mother, played by Radha Mitchell, who comes to find her, and lets Grace know that Howie is actually an orphan.

The film shows a pleasant portrait of the two young children, their taking initiatives, growing in responsibility, growing in friendship and relying on each other.

1. Based on the popular young adult novel, Goats? The target audience? Children? Adults?

2. The setting of the summer camp, the river, the island? The camps themselves, assemblies, dormitories, playing areas? The town, shops? The countryside, forest, cliffs, lake and rivers? The musical score?

3. The 1984 setting, the US at the time, the Reagan era? The popularity of summer camps? Busy parents? Business?

4. The management of the camps, the traditions, targeting children, the bullying? For Grace, her telling her story, for Howie? The bullying children, carefree, mean-minded? At the initial camp, the prank, taking the clothes, abandoning the two? At the second camp, the more sympathetic children, the boy and his advances on Grace, Howie tripping him – but later inviting him, after his tears, to appear in the group photo?

5. Grace, her relationship with her mother, her father married again? Picked on? Carrot-top? Her fears? Her mother telling her to be tough? The effect of the experience, wary of Howie? Naked, not wanting to be looked at? Howie coming to the rescue, going into the hut, finding the blanket, her gradually being reassured? Her not being able to swim, Howie going into the water, the log, moving off the island? Finding the hut, clothes, something to eat? Sleeping the night?

6. Howie, his age, experience, being picked on, small, glasses? His trying to be cooperative, getting the wood for the fire, the boys turning on him? Naked, finding the blanket, comforting Grace, her not been easy to deal with, the fears, not being able to swim?

7. The two together, getting to know each other, relying on each other? Howie and his initiatives? Grace and her timidity? The phone call, reassuring her mother? The authorities ringing her mother, her mother coming to find them?

8. The mother, her criticism of the camp authorities, their defence, the traditions?

9. Grace and Howie, walking together, finding the motel, the family leaving, the issue of the key, Grace pretending to be on the staff, getting the room, phoning the managers, able to stay the night? Going to the store, Grace distracting the man, Howie and his getting the clothes?

10. In town, the children from the other camp, going on the bus, counting the numbers, the friendly children shielding them, the black children? Going to the camp, the T-shirts, the friendly children, going to the dormitories, the social, the dance, Howie feeling awkward, Grace and the advances from the boy? The morning, the photo and including the boy?

11. Walking, being picked up, the suspicious character, the police officer, going off track, phoning, their taking the car, the awkward driving, almost crashing, leaping into the river? Drying off, coming into town?

12. The woman from the camp, Grace’s mother, coming to meet her, Grace wanting to take Howie with them?

13. Howie, Grace’s mother telling the truth, that he had no parents, from the orphanage?

14. Grace, reunited, Howie and his taking the photos during their trip, sending the photos, her happiness?