Much as I tried to like this film because it deals with a serious subject, the fact is this is just drivel. The ramblings of an egotistical, bored, probably middle-class, twit striving to create art out of their impotent, insignificant, scrambled thoughts.Frankly it takes a serious, sensitive and important subject matter and turns it into something resembling a drug-fuelled, devil-worshipping orgy of incest, rape and paedophilia, with no artistic merit and no inkling of understanding the issues it so freakishly misrepresents.Bravo to the young actors for making a go of it, but the adults responsible for dishing up this repulsive and voyeuristic exhibition of perverted fantasies ought to be locked away for all eternity. They have created a film that fails to inform, educate or inspire debate. All of which leaves me wondering if this is meant to entertain in some way: if so, then it really is an exercise in bad taste.

I was lucky enough to catch My Brother Tom yesterday on the only showing this movie ever got in theaters in The Netherlands. With an audience of only 3, including myself, I wonder what is wrong with movie lovers these days. In general terms, the movie is about how a traumatic event affects the lives of two teenagers. Their view of the world is altered, their 'innocence' lost, as they discover that the outside world is a cruel and indifferent one, and that youthful peace and joy only remains within themselves - and between two people, if at all. 'They never listen' Tom says at one point, voicing an all too familiar (but true) sentiment among teenagers with or without scars.The acting is wonderful and refreshing, although I did think both actors appeared older than their roles which at times interfered with the story. But perhaps that can't be helped with a subject like this. To see that this is Jenna Harrison's first role, amazes me, she's a natural. Whishaw's acting as Tom left me wondering 'what is wrong with that guy' as if he had some kind of mental condition. But at all times I wondered about Tom, not Whishaw - they were one and the same, as far as I was concerned.The film felt almost like a fairytale at times, albeit a dark one. The bond between Tom and Jessica is painfully believable, and wonderfully disarming at the same time. It felt real, and that is a great achievement.

MY BROTHER TOM Aspect ratio: 1.85:1Sound format: Dolby DigitalFollowing an episode of sexual abuse at the hands of a trusted neighbor, young Jessica (Jenna Harrison) forms a relationship with a strange boy (Ben Whishaw) she meets in the woods. Unfortunately, Whishaw has secrets of his own, no less troubling and far more dangerous...Dour drama, sparked by brave performances by Harrison and Whishaw, in which two kindred spirits immerse themselves in a mutual love of nature after being traumatized by their experiences in the 'real world'. Unfortunately, their friendship unravels as harsh reality begins to intrude, leading to an inevitable tragedy. Directed by Dom Rotheroe and photographed in digital video format, the movie looks ragged in places (too many awkward close-ups and sloppy hand-held camera moves) and takes a while to find its feet, but the dramatic pay-off is quietly rewarding.

If utterly facile, regressive, self-indulgent, anti-establishment, anti-civilisation juvenilia appeals to you, then this is the ideal film. Very poorly scripted, with often inaudible dialogue and infuriatingly tiresome hand-held camera throughout, this is a film that presents the world in appealingly simplistic, Manichean terms: all adults (especially teachers, parents, priests and doctors) are insensitive and bumbling at best, and predatory monsters at worst. The only escape from the horrors of civilisation as a whole is plenty of primal screaming (yawn) and infantile regression (literally) in a primitive cave-like space in the woods, with utopia taking the form of a rave party - again, in the woods (naturally...). Displays all the weaknesses of a first film, and plenty more besides.