I don’t know if anyone told me about this film when it came out.  I don’t have any recollections about it being the theaters.  This isn’t all that surprising when you consider just how many movies are made each year.  I’m bound to miss a few… thousand.

Written and directed by Nick Cassavetes, Alpha Dog is shot in a documentary style and based on a true story.  There are those who may criticize this film for exploiting a tragic tale for their own financial ends.  But it doesn’t feel like an exploitation.  It feels like it offers a sense of history.

Who would criticize Roots for exploiting the sorrow of thousands (millions?) over the centuries?  No, they have a couple of things in common.  They both offer us a sense of history from which we might learn and grow, and they both add meaning to their related tragedies.  (Though it must be acknowledged that Roots does this on a much grander scale.)

I especially enjoyed Ben Foster in the role of Jake Mazursky.  The role represents a dramatic reversal of talents.  His performance here is one of explosive emotion contrasted with his more sniveling rebellious role in The Punisher (the only good version thus far).  Quite a change.  Bravo.

Another notable performance was given by Anton Yelchin (as Zach Mazursky).  We’ll have to keep an eye on him.  He’ll be playing Pavel Chekov in the new Star Trek (out in maybe a week).

In short I enjoyed it.  I don’t want to go into too many details because (assuming you don’t know about the true history behind it) I don’t want to reveal too many of the plot points.  (I knew of neither the film’s background nor of the story from which it came at the time of my viewing.)

So, go rent the damned thing already.