When Martin Scorsese attached himself to Lymelife as executive producer, this small American indie film stood a chance of getting seen outside the USA. Scorsese has an eye for talent, and based on their first outing, the Martini brothers (co-writers Derick and Steven) are definitely names to watch.

Scott Bartlett (not-so-little-anymore Rory Culkin from You Can Count On Me), growing up in Long Island in the late 1970s, is a passive witness to the disintegration of his home life. His real-estate developer father Mickey (Alec Baldwin) and fretful mother (Jill Hennessy) have only the memory of love in common, and his elder brother Jimmy (definitely no-so-little anymore Kieran Culkin) has already planned his escape into the army. All is not well outside the home either; deer ticks from the neighbouring woods have infected neighbour Charlie Bragg (Timothy Hutton), the deeply depressed father of Scott's crush Adriana (Emma Roberts), and deprived him of his wife's (Cynthia Nixon) trust and compassion. And that’s just the beginning...

Spiritual decay in the suburbs is a fairly constant obsession in American cinema, and while director Martini might be treading on familiar territory, his film is as engaging as its obvious predecessors, American Beauty or The Ice Storm. The Culkin brothers make excellent and credible screen siblings and Baldwin is exceptional, playing a natural bully for whom love is a weapon as effective as fury. Even in its darkest moments there are flashes of warm comedy that lend the story considerable credibility and charm.