{"id":65,"date":"2006-03-10T13:39:13","date_gmt":"2006-03-10T20:39:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=65"},"modified":"2021-01-06T22:58:28","modified_gmt":"2021-01-07T05:58:28","slug":"abuse-1983","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=65","title":{"rendered":"Abuse (1983)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;You just can&#8217;t reach in and click a kid on: &#8216;I love you. You&#8217;re transformed.'&#8221;<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/Abuse-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/Abuse-Poster-195x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"195\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-49805\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/Abuse-Poster-195x300.jpg 195w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/Abuse-Poster-83x128.jpg 83w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/Abuse-Poster-176x270.jpg 176w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/Abuse-Poster.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 195px) 100vw, 195px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nA gay graduate student (Richard Ryder) making a documentary film about child abuse befriends an abused teenager (Raphael Sbarge), and the two become lovers. <\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Child Abuse<\/li>\n<li>Homosexuality<\/li>\n<li>May-December Romance<\/li>\n<li>Movie Directors<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Response to Peary&#8217;s Review:<\/strong><br \/>\nAs Peary notes, this &#8220;extremely controversial&#8221; independent film &#8212; definitely not for all tastes &#8212; is both &#8220;thought-provoking and important&#8221;. There are many unsettling moments, including the &#8220;almost too realistic scenes in which the boy&#8217;s father and mother switch in an instant from being loving parents to monsters&#8221;. It&#8217;s clear that director Arthur Bressan, Jr. believes &#8220;a young adult becoming lover\/protector of a teenager is a welcome alternative to his parents battering him&#8221;, but this view is contestable. See Gregg Araki&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/imdb.com\/title\/tt0370986\/\"><em>Mysterious Skin<\/em> (2005)<\/a> for another interesting look at the not-so-clear-cut line between abuse and a consensual May-December affair.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A provocative storyline without a clear sense of right-and-wrong<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/Abuse-Relationship.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/Abuse-Relationship-1024x722.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"451\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-62047\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/Abuse-Relationship-1024x722.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/Abuse-Relationship-300x211.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/Abuse-Relationship-128x90.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/Abuse-Relationship-768x541.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/Abuse-Relationship-383x270.png 383w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/Abuse-Relationship.png 1409w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Powerful abuse imagery, which allows viewers to truly empathize with Sbarge&#8217;s terror<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/Abuse-Abuse.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/Abuse-Abuse-1024x728.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"455\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-62046\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/Abuse-Abuse-1024x728.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/Abuse-Abuse-300x213.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/Abuse-Abuse-128x91.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/Abuse-Abuse-768x546.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/Abuse-Abuse-380x270.png 380w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/Abuse-Abuse.png 1437w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See?<\/strong><br \/>\nNo, though it&#8217;s definitely worth checking out.  <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/imdb.com\/title\/tt0083517\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tvguide.com\/movies\/abuse\/review\/131844\/\">TV Guide Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/notonnetflix.wordpress.com\/2016\/12\/30\/abuse-1983\/\">Not on Netflix Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;You just can&#8217;t reach in and click a kid on: &#8216;I love you. You&#8217;re transformed.&#8217;&#8221; Synopsis: A gay graduate student (Richard Ryder) making a documentary film about child abuse befriends an abused teenager (Raphael Sbarge), and the two become lovers. Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Child Abuse Homosexuality May-December Romance Movie Directors Response to Peary&#8217;s Review: As Peary notes, this &#8220;extremely controversial&#8221; independent film &#8212; definitely not for all tastes &#8212; is both &#8220;thought-provoking and important&#8221;. There are many unsettling&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=65\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-65","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-responses-to-peary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=65"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62048,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65\/revisions\/62048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=65"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=65"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=65"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}