by Eric Kohn
January 3, 2013 11:30 AM
Sundance Curiosities: In the Wake of Sandy Hook and Gay Marriage Rights, 'Valentine Road' Could Be the Festival's Most Topical Entry
http://www.indiewire.com/article/sundance-curiosities-in-the-wake-of-sandy-hook-and-gay-marriage-rights-valentine-road-could-be-the-festivals-most-topical-entryJust over a month after the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School, the story of another elementary school shooting will premiere in the U.S. Documentary Competition at Sundance. "Valentine Road," directed by Marta Cunningham, focuses on the fallout of 14-year-old Brandon McInerney's decision to shoot eighth grade classmate Larry King in their school's computer lab in Oxnard, California in 2008. King, who was targeted by McInerney for being openly gay, succumbed to his gunshot wound days later; McInerney remained stuck in juvenile detention for three years before his case eventually went to court.
The movie compellingly shifts between the backstories of the two boys, both of whom endured challenging adolescent experiences that culminated in tragedy. King was neglected by his parents and wound up in a home for neglected children, and had just started to express himself as transgender by wearing women's clothing to school when McInerney shot him. McInerney suffered routine abuse at the hands of his raging alcoholic father and fell under the influence of white power propaganda. Whether McInerney actually believed the hate speech he began to obsess over remains unclear, but when King allegedly asked him to the prom, the disturbed McInerney felt compelled to respond with horrific finality.
