Thicker Than Blood (1998) Review

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(More customer reviews)One of the requirements for making a realistic movie is that it take both its story and audience seriously. Thicker Than Blood does at least that much, as it explores the relationship between an at-risk boy and the teacher who tries to rescue him from his hellish family.
In this ninety-minute 1998 TNT Originals movie, we meet an idealistic young man named Griffin Byrne (Dan Futterman) who puts off law school to teach at a New York City Catholic Boy's School. There is a problem, though: his Ivy League education is useless here so, for inspiration, he quotes lines from movies like Stand And Deliver. As expected, his unorthodox teaching methods are frowned upon by the school's Headmaster, Father Larkin (Mickey Rourke). But Griffin gets in more trouble when he begins taking a personal interest in one of his students, an artistic young truant named Lee Cortez (Carlo Alban). Boasting to the headmaster that he can get the youth to school every day, Griffin soon makes startling discoveries about his newly-found cause.
For starters, Lee lives in a violent, inner-city tenement with a family that is perilously close to self destruction. He survives this chaotic home life by withdrawing into a kind of fantasy world wherein he rescues his family - a world he creates with magnificent drawings. Griffin knows Lee's portfolio-quality sketches are good enough for admission to art school. The problem is, they may also be a cry for help. Not knowing exactly what to do, Griffen reaches out to his student -- only to become entangled in a nightmarish family abuse cycle that undermines his efforts at every turn.
The movie does a nice job of portraying the tenuous bond that grows between student and teacher despite ever-mounting obstacles. This not only provides some of the film's best moments, it also makes up for its occasionally improbable story line -- and an unfortunate tendency to build suspense at the expense of subtlety (halfway through, we're fairly certain of its outcome).
But Thicker Than Blood is still worth watching. For one thing, the film doesn't patronize us with feel-good answers to the serious questions it poses. Another plus is that the performances are better than average, with Carlo Alban, in particular, emerging as a gifted young actor. He is flawless in the pivotal role of Lee Cortez, a youth who makes us believe that kids really do have noble impulses - and perhaps can't always be rescued from them.

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