The Apple and the Tree is a movie that gets better as it goes along. It starts off looking like just another teen-suicide movie. Lord knows the world doesn't need another one of those. I remember my freshman year of film school we were all given a Bolex camera, and just about every one of us went out and shot a suicide movie. This has less to do with depression than it does with a lack of imagination on the part of the filmmaker.

So this movie has the deck stacked against it from the beginning, but it succeeds by telling its story mostly through images and very little dialogue. There are a few scenes explaining how the hero, Chris (Kameron Tarlow), is depressed. This is understandable, given that his father just committed suicide. The rest of the film puts us in Chris' headspace - which is a depressing place to be, so it's a good thing that Tarlow is such an attractive lead. He struggles a bit in the dialogue-heavy early scenes, especially in Chris' therapy session. But I'm guessing he was cast more for the later, quieter scenes, when you can see the gears turning in Chris' head.

The movie really does get better, even in terms of the cinematography. The therapy session is an eye-sore. Contrast that with a later scene where Chris is balancing on a precipice. The frame is divided into three striking horizontal sections: the green of the grass, the blue of the ocean and distant mountains. Chris's costume in this scene even complements the colors of his natural surroundings. Clearly, a lot of thought went into this and into the dynamically edited montages where we see Chris fantasizing about offing himself. Yes, The Apple and the Tree is another teen-suicide movie, but if you can get past that fact, then it's easy to appreciate as a well-executed film.