Brian Cox once said that he likes to portray unlikable characters, and Big John the tough ex-Marine he plays in L.I.E. (Long Island Expressway) is one of them; a pederast, no less! When Howie, an unmoored 15-year-old desperately in search of a father figure, burglarizes his home, he finds one in Big John, who tracks him down. The only problem is that Big John proposes that Howie work off his debt by having sex with him. Cox somehow turns Big John into a compassionate presence in Howie’s life, and what could have been a simple screed becomes a deeply moving story about two lost souls. L.I.E. was honored with 20 awards by the likes of the American Film Institute, the Gotham Awards, Independent Spirit Awards, and New York Critics Circle.
“Brian Cox has been a superb actor in more than 50 movies, from Braveheart to Rob Roy to Rushmore to Shakespeare… His achievement in L.I.E. is to remain just outside our comprehension: We do not approve of what he does, but he is just subtle enough so that we are sometimes not sure exactly what he’s doing. The courts would judge this case in black and white, but the movie occupies the darker shades of gray.” — Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
directed by
Michael Cuesta
Michael Cuesta
written by
Stephen M. Ryder, Michael Cuesta, Gerald Cuesta
Stephen M. Ryder, Michael Cuesta, Gerald Cuesta
with
Paul Dano, Bruce Altman, Billy Kay, James Costa
Paul Dano, Bruce Altman, Billy Kay, James Costa
distributor
Lot 47 Films
Lot 47 Films