Sometimes a film ends up at a boutique Blu-ray distributor because the conditions of its theatrical run rendered it forgotten and misunderstood. Other times, it’s because the film is an odious facsimile of a good film, and it tricks a handful of too-online people into liking it or being curious about it, so someone snaps up the rights as a solid programming play. The United States of Leland (2003) is one of those odious, feature-length pieces of cinematic construction and it’s now available on Blu-ray thanks to Imprint. Don’t hold it against them though, because at least one of you freaks is going to read this and still think “I do want to see this strange Ryan Gosling (Blade Runner 2049; The Nice Guys) performance” or “I want to see Don Cheadle (Ocean’s Eleven; Miles Ahead) be weirdly good in a shit movie as a shit character,” and buy it. This is all on you.
L-R: Ryan Gosling as Leland and Jena Malone as Becky in THE UNITED STATES OF LELAND. Photo courtesy of Imprint Films.
The United States of Leland is Nancy Reagan’s mumblecore nightmare, and not in the fun way you just imagined. In this film, addiction is a choice, not an affliction, a choice made by “wh*res.” This is a film attempting to build Shakespearean tragedy out of drug addiction, teenagers having sex with each other, teenagers having sex with adults, autism, and divorce. When one’s inner artist is allowed to speak openly for the first time, it runs around like a child at a toy store who just received their first ever $10 bill. You want to play with every toy, but you also work extra hard to make sure you buy the right toy. First-time directors often want to make a film about something™, but due to a lack of focus, it becomes a film about nothing, endorsing its worst readings.
Don Cheadle as Pearl Madison in THE UNITED STATES OF LELAND. Photo courtesy of Imprint Films.
Clearly, director Matthew Ryan Hoge (Self Storage) finds telling this story about his real-life experience teaching at a juvenile detention center extremely cathartic. Hence why Don Cheadle’s performance as a self-insert character has some juice. There’s also a clever technique involving switching between your left and right eye for another perspective, but that’s where the juice runs out. Reminiscent of films like To Save a Life (2009), an Evangelical faith-based film whose literal legacy is being used to scare youth groups straight, and The Book of Henry (2017), where a child genius dies of cancer and leaves instructions on how to murder his molesting neighbor, The United States of Leland is too broad about too much, and it makes no damn sense.
“I know what they want from me.” — Leland
In The United States of Leland, you know Kevin Spacey’s (The Ref) Albert T. Fitzgerald is supposed to be a smart writer because he corrects a magazine’s grammar with a marker. His book title is America’s Too Loud, and that’s basically the depth of the film’s cultural analysis. It’s structured around two main plots. Ryan Gosling’s Leland has stabbed his ex-girlfriend’s non-verbal autistic brother to death in the park, and now he’s being taught the rest of high school by Don Cheadle in juvie. Meanwhile, his ex-girlfriend’s family falls apart while his family mostly watches from a distance. How this plays out is for almost two hours, Gosling navel gazes in voice over, Cheadle does something awful like cheat on his girlfriend or write a novel, then the worst possible thing happens to the victim’s family for 20 minutes, then we go back to Cheadle and Gosling debating philosophy. That’s too strong a word. Kindergarten-level empathy is more accurate. They debate basic empathy.
The only special features on this disc are the trailer and a new commentary by film historian Scott Harrison, an accomplished writer in many mediums failing to convince you this film is good. I found this commentary very stressful as it filled me with doubt. “Is this what I sound like when I talk about Unrest (2022)? Is this what my coworkers hear?” But my anxiety was replaced by stunned confusion towards the end as Harrison discussed the public reaction to this film. Between its Sundance debut and theatrical release, parents of non-verbal autistic children understandably wrote an open letter of protest against the film’s premise, which, to be clear, is not handled with grace and understanding. But Harrison decides to remark on this by comparing it to other films that received public outcry, citing the violent quelling of black protests against The Birth of a Nation (1915), the anti-anti-semitism protests against Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ (2004), and the Christian Nationalist violence directed at The Last Temptation of Jesus Christ (1988). An insane comparison and an unforced error that just goes to show that Leland does make people act crazy.
Ryan Gosling as Leland in THE UNITED STATES OF LELAND. Photo courtesy of Imprint Films.
Listen, I get it, it’s fun to overpay for a copy of a strange little Sundance film that fewer than 1,000 people have logged on Letterboxd. I, too, own a DVD of Cherish (2002) (it was the first film to use the new technology of GPS-tracked house arrest to create a Rear Window (1954) riff; Tim Blake Nelson (Watchmen, Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?) is the romantic lead; it’s fine), but you should not buy this film. Imprint knows it, I know it, you know it, and your bank account that just rang up $29.99 knows it all too well.
The United States of Leland Special Features:
- 1080p High-definition presentation on Blu-ray
- *NEW*Audio Commentary by film historian Scott Harrison (2024)
- Theatrical Trailer
- Audio English DTS-HD 5.1 Surround + LPCM 2.0 Stereo
- Aspect Ratio 1.78:1
- Optional English HOH Subtitles
- Limited Edition Slipcase
Available on Blu-ray July 3rd, 2024.
For more information, head to the official Imprint Films The United States of Leland webpage.
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Categories: Home Release, Home Video, Recommendation, Reviews
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