

A young drug dealer watches as his high-rolling life is dismantled in the wake of his cousin's murder, which sees his best friend arrested for the crime.
Acting
Rory Culkin's twitchy desperation outshines the pretty leads.
Direction
Schumacher's splitscreens and zooms: chaotic good or chaotic bad?
Cinematography
Bleached-white NYC winter looks expensive and empty.

Director
Joel Schumacher
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Based on Nick McDonell's novel written when he was seventeen, which explains why it captures privileged teen nihilism so authentically—and why it sometimes reads as profound to people who've never experienced consequences.
This was Joel Schumacher's return to gritty teen drama after Batman & Robin, and his last film before his 2020 death. The split-screen technique he uses throughout was originally developed for his 1970s low-budget films.