Take Me to the River (2015) A Review (SPOILERS)

This movie starts with a family of three going to the Midwest for a family reunion. They are from California, and the mother is warning her son not to tell his secret to them. At no time do they actually say he's Gay, but the implication is very strong.

Once at the reunion the kids are enamored with him and want him to draw pictures for them. The one girl is very into him for some reason. This leads to trouble when the teen boy and the girl end up in the barn and she comes running out with blood on the front of her dress between her legs. Everyone is thinking the worst at this point. The fact that they are wrong is not relevant to them it seems.

The father of the girl is very aggressive and upset with the teen boy. This is when you find out he is an abusive person who likes to control others, with a deep desire to keep women under his control and there is an implied threat of violence if they don’t listen. The man later on seems to be a bit more than aggressive, but over the top mentally into the realm of disturbed.

The boy is invited to the home of this man (his uncle and his mothers brother) to “make amends”. This is just a ruse in fact. The uncle is out and out threatening to murder the teen without actually saying he would. The implication is extremely obvious.

When he sends the girl to “take him home”, she ends up going to the river and encouraging the teen boy to swim with her. Without mentioning the details, there is a happening in the river that is very much NOT OK to have happened, and you are left with the knowledge the uncle set this up, even though you did not hear his instructions to the child (9 year old girl). To be honest, I was sickened by this scene and got upset because of something that happened to me when I was 13.

The boy is left to walk home when the child leaves with the horses and it’s dark when he gets back. The uncle is there and just as disturbed and aggressive as always. He implies that his sister (the boy's mother) did similar things with him at the river and that it was all on her and not him. This is of course bullshit quite obviously.

The father is left out of the loop and probably will never know what is going on with this. The mother consoles the sun outside in private and he tells her it’s not her fault, a moving embrace follows.

On the way back to California, the car is dead silent and the tension is obvious. The mother turns on the radio and the absolute perfect song for the moment comes on the radio.

IMDB 6.2/10 ME 8/10 - I was deeply upset and angered by this movie and this is the point of the movie, to make you feel that way.