Hush

Author(s): Evan
Location: Unknown

"Hush”

Directed by Bennett Miller
Screenplay by Eric Roth
Produced by Bennett Miller, Michael Ohoven, William Vince
With Music by Thomas Newman

Principal Cast:

Joseph Cross as Clark Harrison
Kevin Zegers as Andrew McDonald
Ed Harris as Jack Harrison
Kathy Bates as Katherine Harrison
Ellen Barkin as Faye McDonald

Tagline: "Some secrets will change your life... if you let them"

Synopsis:In the suburbs of Atlanta, Andrew McDonald and Clark Harrison are best friends with a secret that they have refused to share, even with each other—they are gay. Clark knows that this fact would devastate his parents and especially his mother, an overbearing, obsessive woman who has kept a written list of goals for her son since before his birth. Meanwhile, Andrew lives a double life, having anonymous sex with men he meets on the internet.

By a slip of the tongue one night in the summer after their freshman year in college, Andrew comes to find out that Clark is gay. During the summer, the boys work through their longings and fears as their friendship becomes more than platonic. The boys head back to school in September vowing to continue keeping the secret. But in October, Clark receives a devastating phone call from his best friend, one which could force the two to share their secret with the world… As the story comes to a stunning conclusion, one of the boys must make a sacrifice for the sake of the other.

What the press would say:

Hush, the new film from director Bennett Miller, is a gutsy take on the effects of societal pressure against homosexuality as seen from the eyes of today’s questioning youth. Not since Ordinary People has a movie so accurately portrayed the anguish of young adulthood and the trauma that results from one’s own worries for the future.

In Hush, elite Ivy League student Clark Harrison (played superbly by Joseph Cross) is a gay youth afraid to admit his feelings for fear that it will strip him of the future opportunities that his high-profile lawyer father and heartbreakingly controlling mother (Ed Harris and Kathy Bates, respectively) desperately hope for him. Meanwhile, his best friend Andrew McDonald (up-and-coming star Kevin Zegers) also refuses to come out so as to not burden his single mother (Ellen Barkin), whose other son is in-and-out of jail, and instead resorts to having secretive sexual relations while at his university.

Though the first half of the film is superb, the film takes a sharp turn into the unforeseen when, after the two boys have discovered the truth about one another and engaged in sexual intercourse, Andrew learns that he is HIV-positive. As Clark waits for the three month window period to pass so that he can get a reliable HIV test, the two boys must decide how to handle the situation. Andrew favors telling the truth, hoping to gain the support of his best friend as he comes out and admits his HIV-status. Clark, despite feeling love for his friend, does not wish to jeopardize his future. The final scene reinforces the power of the movie’s message as [Note: Spoiler Ahead] Clark decides that he must keep his secret and, leaving his friend in a downtown café, is lost in the crowded street.

Hush is a thought-provoking cinematic masterpiece which encourages Americans to think about the fruits of one’s intolerance. Cross plays young Clark brilliantly, maintaining both the character’s determination to be invincible with his inner turmoil and vulnerability, while Zegers, at film’s end, serves as a perfect foil to Clark’s rigidity as he understands his friend’s self-preserving selfishness even as his own life is falling apart. Bates will surely be nominated for her portrayal of Clark’s overbearing mother, a performance that combines the dysfunction of her Oscar-winning character in Misery with the forcefulness of Mary Tyler Moore in Ordinary People. In her most powerful scene, her character learns about Andrew’s illness and, once alone in her room, swings from a mood of icy coldness to one of utter disappointment as she begins to suspect that her son may be gay, too. The audience can see in her facial expressions the agony building up as she comes to the realization and then the desperation that follows as she frantically searches for a way to reel her son back into her mold for him.

From the opening scene to the corresponding closing frame, theatergoers will be stunned by the artistry and originality of the movie. For example, following in the footsteps of 2001’s I Am Sam, each scene is predominated by one color. Though it is sure to be controversial, director Bennett Miller has the potential to strike Oscar gold in this bold, earthy new picture which proves that the young director, like his protagonist Clark Harrison, has a very bright future ahead of him.

For Your Consideration:

Best Picture
Best Director- Bennett Miller
Best Actor- Joseph Cross
Best Supporting Actor- Kevin Zegers
Best Supporting Actress- Kathy Bates
Best Original Screenplay
Best Cinematography
Best Original Score