The Film Club

The touching, true story of what happens when a father tries to educate his chaotic teenage son through film.It was an unconventional deal: Jesse could leave school, sleep all day, not work, not pay rent – but he had to watch three films a week... of his father's choosing.Week by week, side by side, father and son watch the world's best (and occasionally worst) films – from True Romance to Chungking Express, A Hard Day's Night to Rosemary's Baby, Showgirls to La Dolce Vita. The films get them talking – about girls, music, heartbreak, work, drugs, money, love, friendship – and they open doors to a young man's interior life at a time when parents are normally shut out. Gradually, the son develops from a chaotic teenager into a self-assured young adult, but as the film club moves towards its bittersweat and inevitable conclusion, Jesse makes a decision which surprises even his father... The Film Club is a book that goes straight to the heart. Honest, unsparing and poignant, it is the true story of one man's attempt to chart a course for his beloved son's rocky passage into adulthood.