March Madness shows its sinister side in "Home of the Giants," a saga about Indiana state-championship basketball. The main rivalry is not on the court, but off the hardwood, as two brothers go one-on-one in a good-vs.-evil showdown. This appealing, heady independent film won audience fans here at the Chicago International Film Festival. Starring Ryan Merriman as Matt, a high-school basketball star, and Haley Joel Osment as Gar, his loyal, brainy sidekick, "Home of the Giants" is funny and gritty. With sly digs at high-school culture,
filmmaker Rusty Gorman spins a sharp morality story centered on the tribal insanity of Indiana high- school basketball.
In this sharp depiction of middle-American life, Matt is reveling in his "glory days": He's the high- school star who realizes that he'll never play at the next level. He's got a one-man entourage in his brainy friend Gar (Osment), who, both realize, will someday far outpace Matt in the game of life.
Filmmaker Rusty Gorman puts a shrewd trajectory on this jock yarn, layering the drive to the championship with some unsettling human issues. At its core, "Home of the Giants" is played out on a much larger court, and Matt's greatest challenge is to overcome the dark legacy of his older brother."Giants" is smartly shot with just the right character rotation between its two leads: As the sharp-shooting star, Merriman struts with high-school star cockiness and self- absorption, while Osment is winning as the sidekick who must assume leadership. Other players deliver solid turns: Kenneth Mitchell is riveting as Matt's bad-apple brother. Danielle Panabaker's new-girl-in- school freshness adds a perky dimension to the storyline. Writer-director Gorman shows a talent for credible character creations and a deft control of the story, no mean feat since "Giants" blends multiple narrative styles of drama, romance and comedy. Technical contributions are A-game, most prominently editor Dan Schalk's up-tempo pacing and cinematographer Rodney Taylor's on-target framings of the heartland.