A band of brothers go to school in ‘Brave the Dark’
Oh, brother!
Wait! Make that oh, brothers, with an S. I speak, of course, of the siblings Harris, scions of Richard, better known as the original Albus Dumbledore. My three sons, indeed. But this is no family sitcom, it’s serious business for Jared, Jamie and Damian Harris in the faith based “Brave the Dark.”
The film doesn’t seek to spotlight the Harris brothers, but the story they’re telling – high school drama teacher saves homeless juvenile delinquent – is so tedious you look to them for escape. Or, at least to Jared, the former “Mad Man” being driven crazy by the troubled teen his Stan Deen (creepily) takes custody of after the kid and his pals burglarize an electronics store.
We come to know that larcenous lad as Nathan Williams (Nicholas Hamilton), perhaps the most tenderhearted, clean-cut felon ever to appear on screen. But he wears a leather jacket, so he must be bad, right? At least that’s the aesthetic Damian Harris establishes as the film’s director. With him, all cliches are welcome, except for our resident hoodlum’s wholesome appearance. I think “choir boy” comes immediately to mind.
But he’s no singer, just like Hamilton is no actor. He’s dull, inauthentic and the same in every scene, whether his Nate is flirting with his girlfriend, Tina (Sasha Bhasin), or repressing the PTSD that has plagued him since childhood after witnessing a grisly crime. He also has zero chemistry with Jared Harris, with whom he shares dozens of scenes. That leaves it to the latter to prevent “Brave the Dark” from lulling us into slumber.
He provides the movie’s lone spark, doing brother Damian a solid by keeping us engaged in an otherwise lifeless tale about two lost souls prolongedly grieving the deaths of their mothers. There are zero laughs, absolutely no sex and only an occasional cigarette to signify that Nate, the school track star, has fallen in with “a bad crowd.” It’s hard not to chuckle every time Hamilton, he of the angelic looks, attempts to sell us on Nate’s fortitude to knock over a liquor store or pick a fight with the dude caught putting the moves on Tina. But butts and black leather are enough to convince Nate’s Lancaster County (Pa.) probation officer (the third Harris, Jamie) that he’s dealing with a deviant.
Or at least that’s how the film’s handful of writers, including Damian Harris and the real Nate Deen (formerly Nate Busko), present it. And they fortify this notion by repeatedly placing Nate in the wrong place at the wrong time, making him look like a criminal when he’s just a troubled boy in need of nurturing. And that nurturing arrives in the form of Stan, a single man who refuses to admit to Nate that he’s been hopelessly lonely since the recent death of his sainted mother.
When he discovers that Nate has been living out of his car, he offers the kid his couch. And once a judge approves the paperwork, Nate’s ambivalent grandparents are astonishingly receptive to granting Stan custody, no questions asked. It’s hard to believe the Pennsylvania courts were that naive, but they really did OK the transfer of guardianship. But this was in 1986, long before such an arrangement would draw gasps. In this instance, everything was on the up and up, or so Nate claims in his memoir. Somehow, it still feels a bit icky.
With a nearly two-hour running time, it also feels like a slog. After all, we’ve seen variations of “Brave the Dark” dozens of times and know that all will turn out well in the end. So, why drag out the inevitable, especially when there’s so little suspense?
Still, there’s Jared Harris, an actor incapable of delivering a mediocre performance. Somehow, he summons the means to make Stan a compelling character. You undoubtedly sense the depth of Stan’s loneliness and fully grasp his need for human connection through teaching and working overtime as the school’s drama coach. It’s a solid, often moving turn, but you rue that it’s of service to such a pedestrian movie. But then, brothers should always stick together through thick and – in this case – very thin.
Movie review
Brave the Dark
Rated: PG-13 for domestic violence/bloody images, suicide, some strong language, teen drinking, drug material and smoking
Cast: Jared Harris, Nicholas Hamilton, Jamie Harris and Sasha Bhasin
Director: Damian Harris
Writers: Dale G. Bradley& Lynn Robertson Hay and Damian Harris
Runtime: 112 minutes
Where: In theaters Jan. 24
Grade: C+
