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I had a conversation today with Tommy O'Haver, the director of AN AMERICAN CRIME. The film is based on a horrifying event that happened in Indianapolis in 1965. A young girl, Sylvia Likens, was tortured in a basement for months by a woman named Gertrude Baniszewski, her children and some neighborhood kids. It's a real life "Lord of the Flies." Needless to say the film is very, very intense. People who know O'Haver for BILLY'S HOLLYWOOD SCREEN KISS and ELLA ENCHANTED, will be startled by the ambition and power of this film. He elevates is from what could be a court TV reenactment into something that is haunting, eery and deeply moving.

Catherine Keener gives a very restrained performance as Baniszewski--she makes you understand why the woman was the way she was, without justifying in any way what she did. For me, the revelation of the film is Ellen Page as Sylvia. If any of you have seen HARD CANDY, you know that Page is an extraordinary young actress. (I have mixed feelings about HARD CANDY, but it's very worth seeing just for her. ) Call me crazy, but this petite 19-year-old from Halifax is the future of American acting, easily the most promising actor of her generation. You should definitely check her out.