Lymelife

Long Island at the end of the seventies. Two neighbouring families: one rising on property, extending the house, its marriage rotting; the other coming apart because the father has Lyme disease. Fifteen year old Scott grows up between the two houses and is in love with Adrianna from next door. His father is involved with Adrianna's mother. Everyone seems to know and nobody says it. Derick Martini directs and wrote the script with his brother Steven Martini; the narrative rests on their own childhood. Rory Culkin, Kieran Culkin, Alec Baldwin, Cynthia Nixon, Timothy Hutton and Emma Roberts are in the cast. Martin Scorsese was among the executive producers. The illness of the title sits in the background: Lyme disease, carried by ticks, was spreading in the area in those years and was hard to diagnose. The film uses it not as a story of illness but as a decay nobody can identify. The matter at the centre is the difference between how suburban life looks and what it is; as the house grows the family shrinks. The tone moves between comedy and drama and the transitions do not hold everywhere. Who it is for: viewers who like American independent family drama and narratives of growing up. Who it is not for: none of the characters are likeable, the ending is abrupt, and the narrative leaves some strands unfinished.