Mean Creek (2004)

Promising if flawed debut from Jacob Aaron Estes about one fateful day in the life of some young'uns. On the basis of this, Estes appears to have a nascent flair for visual poetry and a slowly developing sure hand with actors. He'll probably turn out something great in a couple films' time. Here, though, he's still on unsure footing -- too often he fails himself by making his influences nakedly obvious. (Five bucks says he's seen George Washington at least ten times.) Also, he occasionally lets his actors overplay their hands, though the talented cast does their best to keep the neophyte from looking too bad. Mark him as someone to watch, but keep the hossanahs in check for now.

Grade: B-