Away from Here (2014)

• Year: 2014
• Released: 17 May 2014
• Country: United States
• Adwords: N/A
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1305618/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/away_from_here
• Metacritics:
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: English
• MPA Rating: N/A
• Genre: Drama
• Runtime: 82 min
• Writer: Kate Cohen, Timothy Michael Cooper
• Director: Bruce Van Dusen
• Cast: Alicia Witt, Ray Wise, Nick Stahl
• Keywords:

5.7/10

Away from Here Storyline

Available on Amazon.comJames is finally set free from prison after 6 years and decides to go back to his hometown. After arriving he pulls down a flier from a light pole and finds a job as a dishwasher in a local restaurant. There he makes friends with the owner who just so happens to know someone at a nearby shelter. After work he drives James to it and drops him off telling him to mention his name to the person there (which he never does). The rent is 100 a week *nearly rent in someplaces* and he seems fine with paying it oddly enough. Later James is woken up and told someone is there to see him *I thought she knew his boss?* His boss gladly drives him to work and tells him to get an alarm clock *he never does from what I can tell* and then things proceed smoothly. He also begins dating one of the waitresses there whom he first encountered when looking for work. She is very cute and lonely due to a mental illness her mother has which we learn of later. James and Lily are slow going but eventually they become a semi-couple. Ironically the very girl he was accused of raping Jessica. Through flashbacks and what we are told Jessica was intimidated into lying during James trial and basically made him sound like a monster. We see the real truth with her instigating things at the start and how the 2 of them become closer naturally. Later when Lily finds out she is furious and upset beyond words, she bangs on his door and demands to know what’s going on. James is confused and uncertain how to proceed with his life at this point, she also ends up hitting him violently and he falls down. He lets her get away with it but it just shows everyone has some violence in them which is what the film is about. Whether it’s direct or indirect (the registry being used to torment people). Jessica is having dinner with her parents and discussing the past while her very controlling boyfriend begins questioning her about why she was in the city that day. He then excuses himself and Jessica sits with her family while her dad questions her much like a little girl being reprimanded for having a life. When going home the boyfriend questions Jessica if she’s seen James at all and she admits to it indirectly. You can get a sense that Jessica is very empty and lonely after her empty life. Later James approaches Lily and tries to convince her he is not that person portrayed on the poster she found in town. Someone had earlier posted on light poles all around town a picture of James saying he’s a rapist and to call 911 if any altercations occur. Of course it doesn’t say “only if he starts altercations” so basically someone could come up irate and begin messing with him then call 911 saying he started it all! Jessicas boyfriend decides to leave because he doesn’t want to be in a loveless relationship which is normal. Meanwhile James goes home to find his parents are the ones posting the rapist fliers all around town and trying to destroy his life or what he’s trying to accomplish. His parents clearly in denial that someone could be in a relationship at 15 willingly (high-school, European countries, etc.) show otherwise. Later James boss believes he is stealing and fires him but Lily tries to confess instead but her boss doesn’t believe her. James is confused and can’t understand who is stealing, is it a ruse to get rid of a known sex offender? With James fired he no longer had money or a reason to go on living, he ends up going home with Lily and she cries uncontrollably for being utterly confused about the entire fiasco. We are then shown Jessica and her dad banging on her door, she doesn’t answer because she’s thinking of the past. She finally caves in and lets him in, they are actually at his house now weird. Anyways her parents are all urging her to call who I thought was a boyfriend but turns out to be her husband. Jessica really didn’t like the guy she married her parents did, meanwhile her dad goes to see and confront James but the truth is he owes him an apology and should go public with the fiasco. With Jessica’s dad Paul arrives to James apartment trying to force James to leave town. It is revealed Paul most likely got James parents to post the fliers. James reveals in this instant Jessica and he believed it was gods plan for them to be together. Confronted with this idea Paul collapses and falls down the stairs, he is breaking but not yet broken. Meanwhile Lily is shown packing while James sits drinking a coffee and smoking. She is packing her stuff up and he is packing his too. James has a new visitor, it’s Jessica! She is surprised by his homes look and she is going to leave town now too. She has no idea where she’ll go neither does James. Jessica sees he has her letters still and she is very upset by it, she knows she still loves James and feels cheated by everyone around her. She asks him if now there is some way they could be together, she is very sad. He hugs her and she realizes so much in that moment, how she missed him, has been living a lie, and she says “I should let you go”. She then says “goodbye James.” and he tells her “you can have the life you want.” This is odd since she walks out and leaves him alone! Lily is shown moving things out of her apartment and Jessica is shown leaving town. Lily sees James sitting there waiting for her and she walks up to talk with him, he looks at her and she looks at him seemingly over her attitude. Jessica boards a bus to Chicago and Lily/James are shown moving out of town together and we see James is ready to move on from the town, his parents, Paul, and Jessica. We see a cityscape and the movie ends.

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Away from Here Movie Reviews

Almost Breaks through the glass ceiling

Like so many of the films I watch these days, I came across this gem on my Amazon Fire TV. Let me say from the outset that this film is excellent. It challenges us to accept the most difficult of questions, can someone convicted of sexually assaulting a minor be redeemable as a person. The average American would most assuredly answer in the negative, as would most convicted men and women in prison who often treat these people as the lowest of the low. It also attacks, though indirectly, a second question: can children lie? This, of course, is question that is often left unanswered due to the problems it would create.

That being said, this movie does a great job of showcasing life after prison for a convicted sex offender. The characters are well thought out, their reactions are stereotypical to the reactions most of us would have. The quality of acting is superb and each actor brings their character to life in a very real way. But as is the case with most films covering a controversial topic in American film, the editors often choose a quick, no mess ending rather than playing the film out in its most realistic format. Why not spend more time attacking our perceptions of sex offenders? Instead of having that moment where offender and victim finally come together, why is it that only the victim accepts that she wasn’t a victim, but a willing participant? Why does the offender not further attack the position that the victim and her dad lied about what was happening? More importantly, the relationship the offender has with a coworker feels forced, inorganic. They quickly fall in love, she finds out he is a sex offender and has the stereotypical response but in the end she comes to his rescue and the flee the city together. I would rather watch a 2 to 2 1/2 hour film that attempts to answer these questions, as I would imagine the original script did, rather than the editor’s version that strives for the typical American film happy ending. For the first half of the movie, I give it a 10, but for the second half I give it a 3 and I believe the strength of the first half, the characters and the acting it the whole film deserves an 8.

An excellent film

This is a story of forgiveness and redemption about two people who made a terrible, costly mistake six years earlier in their lives, when one was a young adult and the other a minor. The flashbacks reveal that both were at fault. That mistake and the subsequent lies told by the minor and her father (a Christian pastor, by the way) cost the young man six years of his life and ostracism in his home town after his return.

Contrary to the claim of another reviewer, the plot made no excuse for statutory rape. And that reviewer, while stating that the young man, a youth pastor at his church, began a sexual relationship with the 15- year-old daughter of the pastor, omitted the fact that she came on to him and that he tried to reject her advances precisely because she was under age. Yes, he kept her letters, but not because he didn’t take his recovery seriously. He’s a man with a heart, and he truly cared for her.

The punishment he received was unjust because the girl and her father (reminder, he’s a Christian pastor) lied under oath at the trial. The girl admitted that when she sought him out after he returned to the town. I’ll state that again–she sought him out, not vice versa. She wanted his forgiveness.

The film does not try to mitigate his crime. The film does not try in some convoluted way to blame the girls’ father (again, a Christian pastor who lied under oath). The film does not contend that he’s cured (I don’t even know what the reviewer is referring to here). In no way did the film attempt to justify James’ action. Contrary to the reviewer’s claim, James did in fact try to present legal papers to his new employer, who rejected them.

Perhaps this is more of a review of that reviewer than the film, but that review irritated me. I thought it was very unfair, so I wanted to respond.

What made MY skin crawl was the hypocrisy of the Christian pastor. He was a real wacko. Still, I enjoyed Ray Wise’s performance, as I always do–from the Devil in Reaper to a devilish pastor in Away From Here.

Nick Stahl and Alicia Witt were outstanding. I highly recommend the film.

Good push

The idea and the intend is good; the process of the film is not so convincing. The storyline is consistent but you have the feeling the director was trying too hard. Good as wake-up call, but a bit weak as movie. At least the main character is strong, by the way.

The film’s message is very good on the other hand: the devilish mechanism of the society and the law is painted good, the bigot position of the preacher should get everyone thinking. And the case is chosen well: not everything is black and white, there is much grey between. A society getting adult should come to accept that and grow there.