In "Next of Kin", Peter(Patrick Tierney) is a shy, 23-year old man living with his upper-middle class parents. His only activity is pretending and his listless lifestyle has so worried his parents, that they have gone to family counseling which is videotaped. When he returns to watch the tape of the session, Peter
also watches the tape of an immigrant family in turmoil.(A son was put up for adoption and the father disapproves strongly of his daughter's lifestyle.) At the next counseling session, Peter announces his attention to take a vacation which everybody agrees to but his true aim is to visit the immigrant family and pretend to be their long lost son, Petros. "Next of Kin" is an absorbing and intriguing movie with a surprising ending about family and what it means to be part of one. But the movie gets off to a very awkward start in trying to explain its premise and it is a little hard to understand the dubious morality of the central character.
September 12, 2006
