State of Mind

This article is about the film by director Matthew Ryan Hoge. The psychological thriller of the same name by John Katzenbach, published in 1997, is treated under Das Rätsel (1997) . For the Michael Mind Project album of the same name, see State of Mind (album) . For the Daedalic computer game released in 2018 see State of Mind (computer game)

Movie
German title	State of Mind
Original title	The United States of Leland
Country of production	United States
original language	English
Publishing year	2003
length	108 minutes
Age rating	FSK 16
Rod
Director	Matthew Ryan Hoge
script	Matthew Ryan Hoge
production	Jonah Smith Kevin Spacey Palmer West Bernie Morris
music	Jeremy Enigk
camera	James Glennon
cut	Jeff Betancourt
occupation
Don Cheadle : Pearl Madison Ryan Gosling : Leland P. Fitzgerald Chris Klein : Allen Harris Jena Malone : Becky Pollard Lena Olin : Marybeth Fitzgerald Kevin Spacey : Albert T. Fitzgerald Michelle Williams : Julie Pollard Martin Donovan : Harry Pollard Ann Magnuson : Karen Pollard Kerry Washington : Ayesha Sherilyn Fenn : Mrs. Calderon Ron Canada : Elden

State of Mind (original title: The United States of Leland , German alternative title: 20 knife stabs , Solitude - The mysterious world of Leland Fitzgerald ) is an American film by Matthew Ryan Hoge from 2003. The film is based on the novel Der Fremde by Albert Camus .

action

16-year-old Leland P. Fitzgerald kills the mentally handicapped Ryan, brother of his friend Becky, with 20 stab wounds for no apparent reason. In prison he meets the prison teacher Pearl Madison. He senses a possible bestseller in the story and goes in search of the motives for the deed. He also assists Leland in his desire to write his point of view in an exercise book by helping him smuggle it into his cell.

Meanwhile, the community is shocked by the murder and in Leland's family everyone tries to come to terms with the crime in their own way. Family man Harry Pollard takes his revolver out of hiding and plays with the idea of ​​taking revenge on Leland. The grief of the second daughter Julie is further removed from her friend Allen, who lives with her in the Pollard's house, and the drug addict Becky runs away to her dealer. This was also the reason why she never wanted to be tied to Leland and transferred him with Ryan on the day of the murder.

Leland's father Albert Fitzgerald is a famous novelist who lives in Europe. After his divorce over ten years ago, his relationship with his son was limited to giving him plane tickets every six months. So Leland should gain experience in the world himself. Only when Albert found out about his son's deed through a newspaper article did he come back home. Pearl Madison tracks him down in a hotel to research more information about Leland. Albert sees through his intentions, rejects him and, by reporting this incident, gets Pearl to be transferred to another class.

Julie doesn't want to lose all of them. After accidentally finding Harry's firearm, he plans to take revenge on Leland by getting himself jailed for a robbery. There he steals a knife from someone and kills Leland.

With the help of Leland's exercise book (which, according to an addition by Leland, is headed "The United States of Leland P. Fitzgerald" and is taken up in the original title) and their frequent conversations, Pearl and Leland try to identify the motivation for the murder of Ryan. Leland recognizes, benefiting from his own experiences, a "sadness" in all people he meets, as it is evoked by every unfulfilled love, every longing or disappointment. This is a formative impression for him, whereas the division of the world into good and bad or the coupling of this to God and the devil seems to him man-made and rather pushed forward. Leland wanted to spare Ryan the many years of sadness that he thought he had to face as a mentally handicapped person (Leland wrote of Ryan: " He knew that nobody thought he was a normal boy. People either laughed at him or they felt sorry for him . ").

Production and publication

The film was shot in Los Angeles . It had its world premiere on January 18, 2003 at the Sundance Film Festival . On May 15, 2003, it was screened at the Cannes International Film Festival . The film grossed approximately $ 344,000 in US cinemas .

reception

The lexicon of international films wrote that the film left “ the question of the causes of youth violence unanswered ” and focused “ on the media desires that the crime triggers ”. He is " convincingly developed and well played ", but " imperceptibly draws sympathies to the young murderer ".

Matthew Ryan Hoge was nominated for Sundance Film Festival and Deauville Film Festival awards in 2003 .

Web links

• State of Mind in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• State of Mind at Rotten Tomatoes (English)
• State of Mind at Metacritic (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Filming locations for The United States of Leland, accessed August 13, 2007
2. ↑ The United States of Leland premiere dates, accessed August 13, 2007
3. ^ Box office / business for The United States of Leland, accessed August 13, 2007
4. ↑ State of Mind in the Lexicon of International Films , accessed August 13, 2007