CHRONICLE, starring Dane DeHaan

Now here’s a movie for you. I loved Chronicle.

Andrew Detmer (DeHaan) is a teenager who suffers from loneliness and bullying at school, from fear over his mother’s terminal illness, and from beatings by his alcoholic father. In an effort to (1) record his father’s beatings on film and (2) to put a psychological barrier between himself and his life, Andrew decides to film everything.

And that’s what we see. Except for a few shots from a young girl’s camera, and a few shots from security cameras, everything we see on screen is what Andrew’s camera captures. It is a fascinating idea and worked well.

Here’s what happens. Andrew goes around filming everything, so when something odd and scary happens, he is hunted down by the BMOC, Steve Montgomery, to come and film. The two of them, along with Andrew’s best friend Matt, lower themselves into a cave that has opened up in the middle of a meadow. Down there it’s dark and scary, but there is also a weird kryptonite type of crystal thingamabob.

After encountering this unknown crystal formation in the secret underground cave, the boys find they have nascent levitation powers. They can lift Legos with mind power.

Then they find that the power can be built up, like a muscle, by working out, so to speak. Over time, they become very powerful. This growth is slow and incremental, well-plotted and believable.

In the background and throughout the entire narrative, the dying mother looms large, and drunk Dad descends into greater and more disabling rage and grief as he finds himself unable to help the wife he loves. He can’t afford the palliative medicines, so while she suffers in pain, he suffers in helplessness.

In the foreground, and where Chronicle shines, we see what might happen to the lonely, outcast, bullied kid who finds he has what amount to magical powers. At first he is content to amuse himself with levitating toys, with picking up spiders and twirling them around without touching them. As his confidence grows, he wants to show off—to make friends of those who have always despised him.

It’s when he realizes—or thinks he realizes—that he is still despised, still unloved, just being played for his freak-show abilities, that the disintegration of what was a semi-sturdy psyche begins.

If only as a lesson in psychology, I would definitely recommend this movie. It is also a great reminder for those of us who homeschool of some of the reasons we have chosen this path. Teenagers can be cruel, and lots of teenagers crowded together can make it all that much worse.

There is real friendship, love, heroism, sorrow, anger, rage, vengeance, and redemption here. The ending is bittersweet, but hopeful.

The pacing of the story is perfect, and I was continually surprised. Predictable in general (power corrupts), but truly interesting throughout. DeHaan reminded me quite a lot of a very young Leonardo DiCaprio. He was earnest, authentic. I say yes.