Smack

Part documentary, part fiction, the story of three brothers (Antonio, Sybil and Zed) aged five to seven as they try to find their way in the world. Combining elements of Super-8 diary work, documentary and drama, the stories are told by actual subjects talking about their own lives and range in scope from religious transformations to heroin overdoses. The stories are funny, frightening and horrifying, but most of all, real. The brothers play out their lives through a series of minor revolutions in an effort to regain control over their world. They exercise their newly acquired autonomy in defiant ways exploring all that is forbidden (drugs, crime, abuse, etc.). Their teenage years are particularly ripe with unhealthy, criminal, even dangerous behavior. Over time, the relationship between them becomes a battle. In spite of their attempts at reconciliation their interplay is like gears in a clock - the more one moves in one direction, the further they are pulled apart.