FIERCE PEOPLE
Year: 2005
USA: Lionsgate / Autonomous Films
Cast: Diane Lane, Donald Sutherland, Anton Yelchin, Chris Evans, Kristen Stewart, Paz de la Huerta, Blu Mankuma, Elizabeth Perkins, Christopher Shyer, Garry Chalk, Ryan McDonald, Dexter Bell, Kaleigh Dey, Aaron Brooks
Director: Griffin Dunne
Countries: USA / Canada
USA: 107 mins
USA Rated: R for language, drug use, sexuality/nudity and some violence
USA Release Date: 14 September 2007 (Limited Release - wider)
USA Release Date: 7 September 2007 (Limited Release - New York and Los Angeles)
Synopsis
16 year-old Finn (Anton Yelchin) lives with his mother, Liz (Diane Lane) in New York but feels increasingly trapped in their apartment. With the summer holidays looming he wants to escape New York and spend the summer in South America studying the Iskanani Indians, or "Fierce People," with the anthropologist father he's never met.
Finn's dreams disappear overnight when he is arrested trying to help his drug-dependent mother. But Liz is determined to get their lives back on track and moves them both into a guesthouse on the rather large country estate of an ex-client of hers - the aging aristocratic billionaire, Ogden C Osbourne (Donald Sutherland).
In Osbourne's cliquey world of the super rich where privilege and power abound, Finn and Liz's encounter with his set is akin to a tribe fiercer and more mysterious than anything they might find in the South American jungle. While Liz struggles with her substance abuse and win back her son's love and trust, Finn falls in love with Osbourne's beautiful granddaughter, Maya (Kristin Stewart). He also strikes up a friendship with Maya's older brother, Bryce (Chris Evans) and even Osbourne himself.
But they quickly fall out of favour after a shocking incident shatters Finn's cosy association with the Osbourne tribe and both Finn and Liz discover that membership always comes at a price...
Starring Diane Lane (UNFAITHFUL, UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN), Donald Sutherland (COLD MOUNTAIN, THE ITALIAN JOB) and Anton Yelchin (HEARTS IN ATLANTIS), FIERCE PEOPLE is directed by Griffin Dunne and written by Dirk Wittenborn, who adapted the screenplay from his novel. It is an unflinching drama that exposes the trappings of wealth and privilege, and their overwhelming power to both seduce and corrupt.
