Running With Scissors

This film was created last year, directed by Ryan Murphy. It is based on the best-selling memoir by Augusten Burroughs. The film chronicles the life of Burroughs through comedy yet also with a serious tone. The viewer sees how his life took an interesting turn when his mother sends him to live with the dysfunctional family of her therapist. After his alcoholic father and an unstable mother, separate.

Unfortunately most of the time films that are based on books are never quite the same. Because of time constraints or whatever reason they never quite fit as many details or events as the book described. However I feel that the film better captured the pain Burroughs was dealing with because of the instability of his mother. I could really detect what I thought were his emotions even when he wasn't speaking. You could really tell throughout of course the dialogue of the script but from also the actor's expressions that really all he wanted was a family that loved him and for his mother's approval. You could tell that even when his mother sent him to live with another family, that he still held on to the belief that she would come back for him and they'd be a family. The film shows the constant let down and instability Burroughs' had to cope with. It will all undoubtedly make him a stronger person. You could already see him grow as a person towards the end of the film. I think he also let go of the fact that he would never have a normal family and he'd never have the relationship he wanted with his mother. He let go of that fantasy and was able to began to find himself and a voice amongst the crazy family that he lived with.