Who knew that Alex Pettyfer was venturing into directing? But there he is, adapting Tawni O Dell’s ‘Back Roads’ into a feature film. So what’s the verdict? It’s not bad at all. It’s a pretty intense film – family dysfunction galore – and secrets and affairs and murder, and it could really be a downer. Pettyfer himself is subdued, making his performance very effective. He could have easily given himself all these showcasing scenes, but has wisely tempered his performance.  The plot confused me at times, until it didn’t, and this has a couple of wtf moments that could have been unintentionally hilarious had it been handled differently. And on a shallow note, Pettyfer looks fine – smoldering in his character’s suffering. I think the film is worth checking out, and certainly could have been bad. But it’s almost very good.

On a little side note, how do I feel that Juliette Lewis – agewise a contemporary – is playing Pettyfer’s mother? I feel old.