United States of Leland, The

Aroview: Solid indie drama that plumbs the soul of a youthful murderer (Gosling) and his web of life-connections after he stabs a retarded boy to death.

Confined in a juvenile detention centre he begins to unwind his guilt to therapist Cheadle, and also in the form of a written memoir, echoing his remote father's (Spacey) occupation as 'famous novelist'. Ultimately both over-forgiving and over-blaming, this rests on its effective use of monologue and confession, but may well ring too many familiar (alarm) bells for some viewers.

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