To commuters it may be "the world's largest parking lot", but to Howie, the fifteen year-old whose mother died on it, the Long Island Expressway is a killer - literally and metaphorically. Estranged from his callow father, Howie, sensing that he is 'other', falls away from his delinquent friends, and seeks comfort in the arms of an ex-marine known as Big John. L.I.E. is an astonishing first feature - adult, layered and incisive - by, surprisingly, a noted director of commercials, Michael Cuesta. L.I.E. is about what seeps behind the fastidiousness of suburban life; it is about what cannot be spoken but is most certainly felt; and it is, in the most moving sense, about loss. The film is distinguished by two memorable performances - Paul Franklin Dano as Howie, and Brian Cox as the man who cannot help reaching out to boys. In its empathy L.I.E., heart-breaking and wise, sets its own precedent.

USA, 2001. 97 min.