Ten Thousand Saints

Set against the gritty yet vibrant backdrop of New York City in the late 1980s, Ten Thousand Saints is a poignant coming-of-age drama that captures the unsteady journey of adolescence, both harrowing and humorous.

The film features a spectacular ensemble cast including Ethan Hawke, Asa Butterfield and Hailee Steinfeld. Under the intuitive direction of Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini, the film provides a vivid snapshot of a specific time and place - the tonal undercurrent of New York's East Village during its last gasps of bohemian rebellion before gentrification took hold.

The narrative unravels through the eyes of Vermont-native, Jude (Asa Butterfield), a 16-year-old living a seemingly dull life with his hippie mother, Harriet. Jude's world is catapulted into chaotic motion when a tragedy sends him to live with his estranged father, Les (Ethan Hawke), in New York City. Hawke, revisiting the edgy charm and easy charisma that marked his early career, plays Les with a balance of affection and aloofness as a divorced pot-growing hanger-on still chilling out on the music scene's fringes.

Thrown into the bewildering urban cacophony of NYC, Jude's life starts revolving around a vibrant and frenetic group of new friends. At the epicenter of these relationships is Eliza (Hailee Steinfeld), the reckless, enigmatic daughter of Les’s girlfriend, with whom Jude shares a complicated and defining relationship. Steinfeld gorgeously melds vulnerability and audacity in crafting a character navigating no less uncertain waters than Jude.

Ten Thousand Saints dives deep into an era marked by punk rock, complex family dynamics, youth rebellion, and the dawn of the AIDS epidemic. The film is at its most potent when it captures this specific time and place, breathing life into an authentic portrayal of the underground hardcore punk scene - its anarchic spirit, music-filled squats, and straight-edge philosophy of abstinence from sex, drugs, and alcohol as a means to endure the unforgiving city. The battle between this puritanical subculture and the explosive excess of the era forms an engaging backdrop to our characters' turbulent lives.

Just as the city around them fills every scene with life and energy, the characters, too, are deeply dynamic and complex. Asa Butterfield shines as Jude, perfectly capturing the turmoil of a young man grappling with his tumultuous feelings of love, loss, rebellion, and regret. Ethan Hawke, in a standout performance, brings an engaging mix of gruff exterior and vulnerable interior to Les. Hailee Steinfeld’s Eliza provides an unstinting view of a young woman coming into her own in a landscape arguably unkind to burgeoning femininity.

Despite its inherent bleakness, Ten Thousand Saints serves up several doses of warm humor, often found in the characters' quirkiness and the absurdity of their situations. Both the humor and the music are used expertly to offset the film's darker elements, creating a balanced and layered narrative.

This is not your typical feel-good coming of age story, the film refuses to shy away from the hardships and quandaries of youthful indiscretions and consequences. The cinematography dials in the grungy aesthetic of the period, while the nuanced performances from the ensemble cast bring a deep complexity to the narrative, making each character feel real and relatable.

Based on the 2011 novel by Eleanor Henderson; Ten Thousand Saints is a thoughtful, deeply felt movie about coming to terms with change - both societal and personal - capturing the grit, angst, and raw energy of a transformative generation. It demands the audience to question and examine their own experiences and blind spots, as they navigate through the unsettling crossroads of these compelling lives.

While the tumultuous journey through the late eighties is key, Ten Thousand Saints is ultimately a timeless tale of misfits finding familial bonds where they least expect it. The film celebrates the dysfunctional families we are born into and the functional ones we create along our zigzagging paths to adulthood. It's a trip well worth taking - for its powerhouse performances, its vivid evocation of a time and place, and its compassionate exploration of the heart's power to heal despite the most devastating losses.