In the American South, a high school baseball team, The Giants, continues their reign of an undefeated season.  For the players, though, their lives off the field are not as winning.  Bobby White (Jack Irv), the star pitcher often wanders the town at night before sleeping outside to avoid his alcoholic father (Larry Miller).  Adam (Ben Irving) struggles at home under his abusive father (Gabe Fazio) who also happens to coach the team and his complacent mother (Amalia Culp).  Lastly, there is Caroline (Lily Gavin), a girl both the boys have their eye on, but she has her own problems at home to contend with as well.   

Giants Being Lonely is the debut feature by writer/director Grear Patterson.  It has the distinct indie/first feature feel to it, not just in its angsty tone but also in its composition.  Sometimes we enter the scene too soon or stay too long, but its forgivable as those awkward seconds contribute to the overall tone of the confusing stage of adolescence that characters are experiencing.  The simple structure, especially in the first half of the film, is all scene work.  As soon as the camera cuts, we are with a different character, a different place, a different mood; there are no sequences in which the scenes help to build and flow into each other. 

This editing style, coupled with scripting, crippled Patterson’s ensemble management as the characters so seldomly interact with each other it was hard to find the focus of the film.  Add to the fact that Patterson cast two brothers, Jack and Ben, to play the lead boys, it takes a little while before we can easily pick off who is who.  It appears that Patterson is trying to play with the idea that two people dealt equal hands can greatly change the outcome of their lives, but the script is far too weak and unfocused to really explore that idea in any meaningful way.  It is incredibly underwritten, especially for Caroline who might as well just be listed as “GIRL” on the call sheet, as that is truly the only purpose her character serves: an unutilized love interest. 

Patterson sets himself up behind the eight ball for his first feature outing by also opting for many actors who also see Giants Being Lonely as their first major on-screen credit, too.  It is not a knock against any one actor specifically as they all have a few moments of brilliance during the 81-minute runtime, but there are also plenty of moments where the camera seems daunting to the fresh talent.  Coupled with dialogue that feels cumbersome and does not always flow nicely, the cast does their best with the material given. 

The real star of the film, and what is most exciting to think about for a potential sophomore feature from Patterson, is his eye for framing shots.  While the first half of the film is narratively stagnant, what fills the frame is a tone poem of the fleeting moments of summer and the confusion of growing up with no clear path ahead of you.  The film is at its strongest when the camera meanders through town, by the lake, and in the woods showing us the teenagers embracing their lives, their personalities, and actually being themselves away from the judgmental eyes of adults. 

Once the film begins to pick up some narrative pace, it takes a surprisingly sinister turn and becomes a pretty messy affair, not just in the plot points but also how Patterson handles the arcs.  Focus begins to shift away from Bobby and the latter half of Giants Being Lonely definitely belongs to Adam.  While the points can be loosely traced back through the story, the biggest problem is that the script buckles under any bit of weight and cannot support the story as the film concludes.  So much is left unsaid in-between the cuts that we only ever have a half-passing notion of what is going on until our suspicions are eventually confirmed by the final shot. 

Giants Being Lonely, due to its flickers of promise throughout, puts Patterson on the map as an up-and-coming director to watch.  There is no denying the plentiful amount of unrefined talent that is on display here.  In a happier world, the troubled teens of this small town would go on to achieve their dreams, but as the film carries its bleak outlook until the very end, the best we can do is hope that the cast and crew can all continue to have bright careers in cinema in their future projects.