SYNOPSICS
Thicker Than Blood (1998) is a English movie. Richard Pearce has directed this movie. Mickey Rourke,Dan Futterman,Carlo Alban,Luna Lauren Velez are the starring of this movie. It was released in 1998. Thicker Than Blood (1998) is considered one of the best Drama movie in India and around the world.
Griffin Byrne is the idealistic new history, English and maths teacher in Father Frank Larkin's school in a mainly Latino ghetto neighborhood where most kids, even many of its graduates, end up in crime and poverty. He takes a particular interest in one of the boys nobody believes will ever come to anything, Lee Cortes, who he finds to be a prodigy in cartoon drawing but who never spoke a word at school, and always wears a Walkman, essentially because of his home situation: his elder brother Tyro, a drug dealer, abuses him and his mother, so he often stays home to mind the smallest siblings. Griffin tries everything to help Lee, despite everyones cynicism, even takes him in his bachelor flat, but finds the whole family situation must be solved, which is probably beyond his power, yet tries tireless, even if he gets nothing but abuse and the results seem to do more hurting then helping...
Same Actors
Same Director
Thicker Than Blood (1998) Reviews
better than the average white-teacher-saves-the-world movie
I am a teacher, and I believe I have seen every film made in this genre: white teacher tries to go out and save the underprivileged urban children. This is the best of the lot. It is unpretentious and doesn't pretend to have all the answers. Without spoiling the ending, I will say that "Hollywood" would never have allowed it. I think it is a worthwhile film.
Strong
Very strong. Saw this a couple years ago but was compelled to submit only now due to the outrageously misleading two line post on main page. This was a tough, extremely well written, realistic piece featuring fine work by Dan Futterman and that rarest of rare these days, an excellent performance from Mickey Rourke as, of all things, a priest. He is remarkably disciplined and convincing for a change. Though it was made for cable this movie (along with HBO's recent "Cheaters") is superior to 95% of the junk that gets dumped into the neighborhood multiplex. A great deal of care and intelligence went into the making of this one. Check it out if you happen to be into that sort of thing.
Futterman is just fantastic
Ever since I've seen this actor in Birdcage and Shooting Fish, I had to search for more of his work. I came across this VHS tape of Thicker Than Blood. I was taken by another great performance for this actor. It seems he can do anything, and certainly deserves recognition, beyond the likes of a Ben Afleck and his buddy Mark Damon, to name just a few. Mickey Rourke suprised me in a low key performance which reveals also true talent. The ending was predictable and a disappointment, but the movie as a whole was very satisfying. See it for Futterman's performance.
Better than average performances and a unique story line make this "youth-in-crisis" film worth watching.
One of the requirements for making a realistic movie is that it take both its story and audience seriously. Thicker Than Blood does at least that much, as it explores the relationship between an at-risk boy and the teacher who tries to rescue him from his hellish family. In this ninety-minute 1998 TNT Originals movie, we meet an idealistic young man named Griffin Byrne (Dan Futterman) who puts off law school to teach at a New York City Catholic Boy's School. There is a problem, though: his Ivy League education is useless here so, for inspiration, he quotes lines from movies like Stand And Deliver. As expected, his unorthodox teaching methods are frowned upon by the school's Headmaster, Father Larkin (Mickey Rourke). But Griffin gets in more trouble when he begins taking a personal interest in one of his students, an artistic young truant named Lee Cortez (Carlo Alban). Boasting to the headmaster that he can get the youth to school every day, Griffin soon makes startling discoveries about his newly-found cause. For starters, Lee lives in a violent, inner-city tenement with a family that is perilously close to self destruction. Worse, to survive his chaotic home life, the boy has withdrawn into a kind of fantasy world -- a world he creates with magnificent drawings. Griffin knows Lee's sketches are portfolio-quality and could no doubt gain the youth admission to art school. The problem is, he also sees them as a cry for help. Not knowing exactly what to do, he reaches out to his student, only to become entangled in a nightmarish family abuse cycle which undermines his efforts at every turn. From this point forward, the movie portrays the tenuous bond that grows between student and teacher despite ever-mounting obstacles. For the most part, this is done well and provides some of the film's best moments. It also helps compensate for the occasionally far-fetched story line and for the film's overall tendency to build suspense at the expense of subtlety (halfway through, we're fairly certain of its outcome). But Thicker Than Blood is still worth watching. For one thing, the film does not patronize us with feel-good answers to the serious questions it poses. Another plus is that the performances are better than average, with Carlo Alban, in particular, emerging as a gifted young actor. He is flawless in the pivotal role of Lee Cortez, a youth who makes us believe that kids really do have noble impulses and can't always be rescued from them.
Not that bad
Maybe filled with cliches, but worthwhile. Ending was flawed, but probably realistic. Worth watching.