Sweet Old World 2012

Sweet Old World is inspired by my personal documentary film, The Band (PBS series P.O.V., 1998), in which I followed my son through his junior year in high school as we both struggled with the death of his brother seven years earlier. It tells the fictional story of a father (Brian) and teenage son (Ethan) whose lives were shattered when the son’s brother was killed in an accident seven years earlier. Both trapped in their own private grief and pain, their relationship has grown strained and cold over the years. The return of the dead son’s best friend, who had left town with his family after the accident, causes Brian and Ethan’s carefully constructed protective shells to shatter-bringing them both to the brink of disaster and the potential for a new life and relationship. Throughout, the story is driven by Ethan, whose new found, and seemingly uncharacteristic willingness to flirt with danger under the influence of his brother’s friend forces Brian to confront his own buried grief. ...