User reviews

I caught this during a brief run in a Philadelphia theater. Despite its local provenance (and its relation to a hometown tragedy, namely the beating death of Eddie Polec in 1994), I really have to come down hard on this movie. The director, for reasons best known to himself, decided to shoot the entire film guerilla-style, with nonstop handheld cameras and rapidfire cuts. Such technique might work for the scenes of jarring violence, but is utterly inappropriate for the rest of the material, which makes up the majority of the film. A stroll down the sidewalk, a brother-to-brother discussion on a sofa, hell, even a kiss on a first-date are all shot cusinart-style, distracting this viewer from ever being able to enter into the drama. Martin also undercuts his narrative by packing in far too many topics: besides the birth of mob violence, we get anorexia, alcoholism, divorce, racism, parental abuse...did I miss anything? No doubt a better cast (and a better-focused direction) would have knit these threads together, as Martin surely intended, to demonstrate how one moral flaw leads into and sustains a host of others...but good intentions do not necessarily a great film make. Just a sprawling mess. Martin, I know you're from my town, and I'm down with you man, I really am...just do a better job next time, like you did in Two Plus One.

Eugene Martin's fine indie film EDGE CITY is based on the real life beating and death of Eddie Polleck, who unfortunately met his fate the same way as one of the this movie's characters. It is a film that has yet to find a national distributor yet has played at film festivals across the country and is now showing at one theater in Philadelphia. It's a good enough film with flaws that probably can't get distributed because of the timeliness of the children and violence theme.

EDGE CITY is an ensemble piece about what happens when a rumor is horribly twisted around. Two Jersey girls have Coke thrown onto them by three Philly kids. As they tell people about it, this minor incident turns into groping, attempted rape, and full-on rape. As the movie builds up, so does the rumor. We see the lives of both the Philly kids and the Jersey kids. The Philly kids we focus on, mainly on the character of James, just go about their business. James and his brother Bobby try to keep their alcoholic father together by working with him at the local supermarket.

Meanwhile, in Jersey, a girl named Cherie, who drinks her way through her father's remarriage, is the girl who has Coke thrown on her. When she tells her friends, it gets around that what was once a mere practical joke has been twisted into a deadly serious topic. Her friends get ready for a rumble that ultimately the innocent James and Bobby become the center of.

EDGE CITY is a nicely made picture but it is not perfect. While it is superior than Larry Clark's horrible KIDS, it tends to lapse into KIDS territory: letting white kids talk like black kids for too long of a time and letting the dialogue get so out of hand that you soon realize that no one talks like that, even when they're joking. Also, the device of the jump cut within scenes is WAY overused in the first half hour of the movie, with the cuts being jarring and misused than artistic and crafty. And the script too often veers into Afterschool Special territory, i.e. rich girl falls in love with poor boy and he can't accept it, snobby girl is really anorexic, drinks too much, and hates her stepmom, etc.).

However, the fine performances from the cast hold down this film. Charlie Hofheimer is excellent as the doomed hero James, giving a quiet, sentimental coolness to his character that few could pull off. Heather Gottlieb transcends the material for her character, giving a usual Afterschool special character an original turn, making us actually care for her. The rest of the cast, full of local Philadelphia kids, work well together and make the story believable, even when it is not.

All in all, a film that needs to be seen, needs a distributor, and needs a national release. Wake up, you ill-minded Hollywood studios, and pick this little gem up. It's not perfect, but it is one of the better indie films of the last few years.

Rating: B

this is an example of a movie that can have great potential and is executed very poorly.. i am a fan of kids and thumb sucker and many other so called teen angst films, but this one bugged me.

why is every white kid made into a thug who loves rap, its getting to be one dimensional. the acting was awful but simple since It mainly consisted of just dropping f bomb after f bomb just a bad bad movie if you'd like to see better movies like this : thumb sucker kids bully all

those i think are better so i recommend one of those is you'd like to see a good "teen movie" i hope my comment you found useful and hope you hear future comments from me

This movie was outright painful for me to watch. I understand that indie films do not have the same resources as other mainstream films. But there are basic elements of film making that typically you want to adhere to. First off, jump cuts. There are numerous in the film's opening 15 minutes. There are shots in which it appears that two separate takes of the same shot were edited together. What I mean by this is a character will say half a line from one take, and the rest of the line is from a different take. Secondly, the dialog. I understand that many writers strive for a very realistic and true dialog for their films. Since this film is very specific to its location, the dialog must be spoken in a specific tone also (example: set a movie in Boston, yet people use west coast slang with a Chicago accent). Even with understanding this, it is still hard to sit through some of the lines these actors present. These are only the two most vivid problems I encountered with this film. There were a few others. I do not mean to sound like a harsh critic who doesn't know a thing. I have years of experience in the film (more importantly the low budget indie film) industry. I also understand that with many directors there is often a method to their madness. I have been unable to discover this method used in this film. This makes it difficult when trying to decide whether I view this film as an example of unique style in film making, or just another low budget, poorly put together film. I honestly hope that it is not the latter. If anyone has any insight into why things were done a certain way, or has any thoughts/views of their own concerning this film, I would love to hear them. Hopefully I can understand this film more and my current opinion can be changed.

see i think the above person has it 100% wrong. I think they were trying to portray the suburban kids as trying to be what they thought was tough and urban. in the beginning they say something like this is real gangster, suburban gangster, none of that urban bullshit. or something like that. when in fact the real urban kids, the philly kids, were nothing like that. the acting made me feel like the kids were actual people. like it was a documentary and not a superbly acted movie, which actually made it better.

this is a true story. im from philadelphia and we had the father of the child come and speak to our school about violence. i didn't know about this film when that happened i actually just saw it (8/07).

i totally respect your opinion of the movie. but i think that it was an amazing movie, incredibly powerful and told a story that needs to be told. these kids totally pushed each other into thinking they were tough kids, they had to prove themselves but really proved that hurting people isn't the right way to go.

listen, i know i cant write and i know my argument is scattered, but give this movie a chance. i personally think it is amazing. i was having difficulty holding back tears at the end because it seemed like they were real people, not actors, like you and me.

amazing movie, powerful, definitely a must see.

It truly captured the 90's yputh social drama. I was smilling the whole time watching this. It felt as if i was looking at the family in my block I grew up around.

Edge City takes a realistic and edgy view on teen violence and it's origins. An simple prank in a fast food parking lot quickly turns into full fledged rape as rumors continue to spread through a Philadelphia suburb. The rising rumors show how one single rude, but harmless act can elevate into a serious problem for innocent people. The jumpy film style is a bit harsh on the eyes at times, but the story and characters ring true to teen life.

When you read about a senseless brutal crime committed by seemingly normal individuals, it's hard to understand how it could happen. This film makes a plausible case, showing how peer pressure and crowd mentality can make kids evil who are ok as individuals. This is based loosely on a local case in my home town, Philadelphia. The acting is excellent and the director really has a feel for adolescent lifestyle.