In "L.I.E.," Paul Dano is a teenage boy named Howie Blitzer. His mother has died in a car accident on the Long Island Expressway (thus allowing "L.I.E." to serve dual purposes as a title). His father (Bruce Altman) has immediately brought home a bit of a bombshell so soon after his wife's death; he also is a businessman who not only does not spend enough time with Howie but also has performed unethical business practices which may jeopardize him. Howie does not appear to have much friends; his closest is a boy his age named Gary (Billy Kay) whom he is really close to. The two wrestle each other to the ground, and Gary compliments Howie on his nice skin and hair. As a teenage boy, Howie's life is very complex.
Gary is a teenage prostitute, offering his services to older men on the expressway. He is described as a "slut" by the character Big John (Brian Cox). Big John would know because he has frequently traveled down the expressway seeking the services of Gary and other young boys. When Gary and Howie break into John's house, steal his guns and just barely escape, John hunts down Howie and begins to prey on him, as Howie's life at home falls apart.
This is one of the best coming-of-age films since "Stand by Me," and Dano and Cox are at their finest. Cox--the original Hannibal Lector--portrays a figure with cognitive dissonance, as Cox and director Michael Cuesta discuss on the DVD commentary that the character is conflicted with his desired role as a father-figure to Howie and his desire to be intimate with him. Cox rejected the advice of his agent and many of his friends, took the role and created a character with charismatic and seductive likability yet with enough normality to disguise his ways; I guess that's part of what they call Stockholm Syndrome. Dano, the future star of "Little Miss Sunshine," "There Will Be Blood" and "Where the Wild Things Are," is also perfect. Whereas the other boy characters in the film have grown up too quickly, Howie is a character struggling to catch up and is completely vulnerable.
I recently read a criticism about filmmakers who do not take risks. Director Michael Cuesta certainly is a risk-taker--any movie featuring pedophilia and teenage masturbation is a de facto movie of risk. James Dean and Sal Mineo discussed with each other during filming the queer implicitness of "Rebel Without a Cause." Here, in "L.I.E.," fifty years later, it is much more explicit, and its actors are much younger. The film passes as a brave film.
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