Random Movie: White Rabbit (2013)

In a grim look a at teenager’s life, White Rabbit shows that some people are born to be hunters and some are molded that way.

Tim McCann’s film is at times not predicable and at others you can completely see everything unfold. Beginning with Harlon (Nick Krause) as a boy whose father eggs him into killing a trapped white rabbit and jumping forward through the years to show the systematic abuse he suffers from classmates, teachers, and even his own drug-addled and drunk father, it is clear that Harlon is not emotionally stable. Couple this with his obsession with a comic book that he speaks to, Harlon has little in his life of note with the exception of Steve, a younger boy also forced to suffer at the hands of society.

Things begin to get better when Harlon meets Julie (Britt Robertson), a new transplant into his high school who has issues of her own but the two forge a bond and almost a relationship through alcohol, drugs, and shooting guns in the small town. Soon though, Julie is gone, Steve is gone, and Harlon has no one to turn to except the comic book voices in his head telling him to fight back and stand up for himself. Eventually, Harlon does but sadly not in a productive way.

While McCann and writer Anthony Di Pietro go out of their way to show the influences and build-up to Harlon’s transformation from meek child to troubled youth, the transformation itself is handled rather sloppily. There are turning points and ongoing arcs in his story, but Harlon begins the film in one state and ends in a completely different with only a few pit stops along the way, nothing to note such a marked change.

Maybe that is intentional; maybe that is life. It feels however that the film skips a few beats in solidifying that journey only for it to spring up whenever needed.

Technically however, this is a sound film with excellent direction (not so much editing) by McCann as he solicits good performances from Krause especially through his different phases. Also noteworthy is Ryan Lee’s Steve who isn’t in the film much but factors in greatly for Harlon.

As the ending draws near and all the pieces are laid, you wonder if things will play out the way they look to. And for all intents and purposes they do as Harlon finally breaks. A weirdly ambiguous ending though (complete with dialogue from the titular beast, not unlike one Donnie Darko) almost undercuts the gut punch of the finale but I’ll let that slide.