The Adventures of Sebastian Cole

A comical and realistic view of the real world of high school without all that American Pie/She's All That crap about just capitalizing off of what kids WISHED their high school life was like. This truly was a movie that had everything in it: great wit, great drama, a great plot, great music, and great acting. If the distributor had only allowed it to more theaters, it would have surely been more of a success as most people HEARD it was good, but were not able to see it since it was only released in a few places for a few days. Kudos to Tod Williams.

Sebastian Cole (Adrian Grenier) is a teenager of seventeen years old, living in a small town with his mother Joan Cole (Margaret Colin), his stepfather Hank (Clark Gregg) and his sister Jessica (Marni Lustig). His father Hartley (John Shea) is an architect and his grandparents are persons very traditional, conservatives and arrogant. One day, his stepfather gathers the family and informs that he will make an operation for changing his sex. This communication is enough to leave the members of the family astonished and break the structure of the family. Jessica decides to leave home immediately with her boyfriend. Joan decides to move to England with Sebastian. A few months later, Sebastian decides to come back to USA and to live with his stepfather, now called Henriette. He joins the high school and becomes a very rebel teenager, certainly affected by the whole situation, shocking the elders in most of his attitudes. This low budget and independent movie has a very original screenplay. The excellent cast and direction are sharp. The story is not indicated for all audiences, but the viewer who appreciates a different story will have the chance to watch a good movie. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Febre de Viver" ("Fever of Living"

This well regarded (critically) movie seemed very promising as a character study of young Sebatian Cole and his Step "father/mother", the pre-op transexual Hank/Henrietta. While there certainly were interesting issues and very well acted roles the film is ultimately let down by its own story line and character.

We come to seriously dislike Sebastian, our "hero". He goes from an engaging young man who is lost but obviously intelligent to a young punk who makes decisions for himself and his life that are totally illogical and out of character. Very well acted by Adrian Grenier but sadly unlovable.

Hank's character is the one we come to enjoy and admire. In a rough rural area to chose to become a woman is a unique and obviously dangerous decision, especially when you take into account his wife and her 2 children. A courageous decision that doesn't appear to detract from Hank's/Henrietta's very strong morality and view of what is ruight or wrong in life.

A bold attempt of a movie but by the end I just didn't care.

Try again.

The film is criticized for not going anywhere, but I think this is because some critics can't handle a storyline that doesn't have an action-based, simplified plot. The story is coherent and flows well. There is no wasted time - small moments are significant. The visual symbolism (such as the arrow that falls between Sebastian and Mary) is fantastic, as is the dialogue. There is no empty imagery.

Many films rely too much of the visual element. The writing was great, and so was the camera work. And the acting. Bravo to the whole crew.

I hope that Tod Williams is in it for the long haul and writes _and_ directs more work of his own, and soon. If someone out there knows him and thinks he needs an ego boost on a bad day, please pass this along.

Sebastian Cole stars Adrien Grenier (Drive Me Crazy) as a teen struggling to come to grips with his father's transsexualism.

Director Tod Williams maintains a nice semi-comedic, yet always surefooted tone, which keeps the film grounded, yet also prevents it from becoming too serious.

Grenier too often reminds us of a run-of-the-mill wise street-kid type, not too dissimilar from his role in Drive Me Crazy. Yet, he is effective in both films and has considerable appeal.

The film is at times uneven as we follow the antics of Grenier, along with his longtime buddies, his "girlfriend" Mary, and the rest of his family. Yet, the movie does a good job in its depiction of several disparate family members trying to cope with a family crisis.

Despite a vague ending and the occasional unevenness mentioned above, the film is worth seeing for its honesty and candid portrayal of a father struggling with his sexuality and how it affects the family unit.

Far from flawless, yet ultimately convincing.