cinehunch
A FILM WORTH A CLOSER LOOKTHE FEATURE PRESENTATION
IF THIS ONE STAYED WITH YOU
Keep the feeling.
SIMILAR PICKS / A PERSONAL CONNECTION
01
Why this pick
Like The Cure, it builds its emotion around an unlikely friendship between isolated boys, balancing youthful adventure and humor with a deeply compassionate view of illness, family strain, and loyalty.
02
Why this pick
Its child’s-eye perspective, small-town texture, and frank treatment of grief echo The Cure’s tender ability to make a formative friendship feel both ordinary and immense.
03
Why this pick
A prickly child slowly forming a bond with a patient caregiver gives this quiet rural drama the same unforced warmth and emotional healing found in Erik and Dexter’s connection.
04
Why this pick
Its sensitive focus on a lonely child enduring cruel adults and finding solace through imagination and friendship matches The Cure’s compassion for children navigating neglect.
05
Why this pick
This gentle, visually expansive coming-of-age story shares The Cure’s sense of a wounded young person finding purpose and connection beyond an emotionally unavailable parent.
Finding the atmosphere, tension and little details that made this one stay with you.
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01 / THE STORY
Set in a small town of Stillwater, Minnesota, Erik is a 13-year-old adolescent loner with an emotionally abusive and neglectful workaholic mother, Gail, who hardly spends time with him. His father, who treated Erik considerably better than his mother, lives in New Orleans, Louisiana. Dexter, an 11-year-old boy who contracted HIV through a blood transfusion, is Erik's neighbor. Initially, Dexter is put off by Erik, but they become both good friends despite their differences. Erik seeks a family in Dexter and his congenial mother, Linda, due to his bad relationship with Gail, but Erik keeps the friendship a secret from her, knowing that Gail won't approve due to her own prejudice in regards to AIDS.
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02 / FACES IN THE FRAME
Dexter
Erik
Linda
Gail
Dr. Stevens
Pony
Tyler
Male Nurse
