Welcome to another movie that belongs to the genre of "Life is terrible and nobody's happy." If you're in the right mood for them, they can be terrifically entertaining. One of my favorite movies of its year was The Florida Project because of its realism and sorrow. Sonny is a drama about a young man who wants a better life for himself than he was born into. Okay, that's not exactly what it's about, but in a nutshell, that's the basic message that people in the audiences can relate to. In a tearful monologue, Harry Dean Stanton admits that there every single moment of the day he wishes he was someone else. "If I look too close in the mirror, I might see me. I don't think I'm quite ready for that," Mena Suvari confesses.

Those of you who've read my reviews know that I'm notoriously harsh on films that glorify prostitution. Sonny portrays it as the seedy, humiliating, disgusting business that it is. Brenda Blethyn is at her best: low-class, ignorant, selfish, with an edge of sugar that's equal to the edge of vinegar. She plays James Franco's mother and pimp, and when he returns from three years in the army, she expects him to pick up right where he left off. He doesn't want to, and in a heartbreaking scene, he seeks employment at a clothing boutique only to be recognized and embarrassed by former client Brenda Vaccaro. This is a far cry from Pretty Woman, folks, so don't expect Franco to run off with Mena Suvari, his mother's new employee. They form an attachment because they feel like they're both trapped and both know what it's like to carry the stigma of working in prostitution, but the movie spends much more time lifting the lid on how the other half lives than on a little romance.

If you're watching this movie for Nicolas Cage, he doesn't show up until the last fifteen minutes, and you probably won't even recognize him. However, since he did direct and co-produce the movie, you're still seeing his handiwork even when he's not on the screen. This is his directorial debut and it doesn't feel like it was made by a newcomer. There are no glossy edges, and most scenes are set in broad daylight so the characters have no filter to hide behind.

The performances in this heavy drama are extremely strong, and if you can stomach it, watching it for the second time will bring out previously hidden layers. Mena Suvari has the deadened look that real prostitutes wear; it's clear self-hatred replaced self-respect long ago. James Franco shines in scene after scene as he degrades himself and lets other's expectations of him take precedent over who he thinks he could be. Anyone who thinks Julia Roberts played a realistic prostitute should watch Sonny and get an education. They get treated like garbage, they get humiliated, and sometimes they don't even get paid. It's a terrible, dangerous way of life.

It's understandable that Sonny wouldn't find a very large audience, but if you like James Franco-his talent, I mean-you should consider renting it. Yes, he's ridiculously gorgeous and puts on the Southern drawl he's perfected through the years, but this is not a steamy movie to rent for girls' night. If you're renting it, it's because you want to see another facet of his versatility.

Kiddy Warning: Obviously, you have control over your own children. However, due to graphic sex scenes, I wouldn't let my kids watch it.

Sonny, the son of a New Orleans whore, returns home from the army determined to start a new life far away from prostitution. He finds that, even in 'live and let live' New Orleans, one's past is hard to escape.

The characters in this film are disturbing, volitile and manipulative. Other times they are sensitive, caring and fragile. Even Cage's over the top portrayal of a pimp, left me with the feeling that people such as this existed in the early 80's sex industry. The film captured excellent and emotional performances by James Franco, Brenda Blethyn, Harry Dean Stanton and Mena Suvari. Nicholas Cage, in his directorial debut, brings to life a script that fits well with his 'outside the box' body of work. The unusual sound track relied heavily on Bach and Beethoven with Devo and Wall of Voodoo mixed in.

Sonny was shown to a US audience for the first time at the Virginia Film Festival in Charlottesville, Virginia. A superb Roger Ebert interview of Mr. Cage followed. During the interview, we learned that the film went into production 3 weeks after Mr.Cage decided to produce and direct the project. It was shot primarily in a French Quarter building that Mr. Cage happened upon, purchased and now does not know what to do with. Filming lasted 6 weeks. Even if you consider the fact that Nicholas Cage first read the script many years ago, intending to play the part of Sonny, it is unbelievable that this film went from 'green light' to 'in the can' in 9 weeks.

Nicolas Cage needed to get this out of his system, I guess. He never directed before or since, and it's a project that speaks somewhat to what we know about his influences - James Franco, channeling, I think, James Dean, who was Cage's reason to become an actor - and, I suppose, to his wanting to tell this particular story of a gigolo in New Orleans circa 1981. Whether or not he'll make a movie with such concerns, or just another movie as director period, remains to be seen. For now we have this, a melancholy look at a young man screwed up by his mother (and by screwed up I mean by her having him as a man-whore starting when he was 12 years old) and unsure of where to go in his life. It has its misses, and just strange quality about it at times. But it also has life and some weird energy about it that's hard to shake off.

Cage certainly casts with some interest, and more or less he's a good actor's director. He gets Franco to dig deep into his character Sonny, a guy who escaped to the army more-so than really serving from his existence as a hustler of lonely middle-aged women looking for some hot thrills and sex. When he gets back he wants to go legit - something his mother (Brenda Blethyn) is dead-set against - but is drawn back in after a bad encounter visiting an old army buddy in Texas, and when he realizes that his reputation in the quarter of New Orleans he lives in is locked: he's a man-whore, and is undesirable except in his lowly position. He also seeks advice from a boyfriend of his mothers, Harry Dean Stanton, and his mother's current protégé prostitute played by Mena Suvari.

Cage manages to get some really affecting scenes with his characters. One of which is the morning after Sonny and Carol have done some prostituting at a Louisiana mansion (Sonny with the main madame, Carol with some other guy),and they're at a farm and see in the barn a dog that's just given birth to puppies. It brings Carol to tears as she thinks she won't be able to get out unless she makes a clean break. It's one of those highly melodramatic scenes- think Douglas Sirk, that much so- but it works, albeit with some cheesy touches (when Carol says to Sonny "I love you" rain just starts on cue). Other scenes try to be more affecting but are a little more compromised. Scenes where Jewel (Blethyn) does her sob routine in front of Sonny work up to a certain Tennessee Williams style dramatic point, but Blethyn's accent is way over the top. A couple of short scenes between Stanton and Franco fare much better.

And other times Cage is just trying things out as a director, and sometimes things work and sometimes not. He's a little rocky when it comes to scene transitions: we see Sonny's trip from New Orleans to Texas with lots of fast-motion shots of his car driving to Rush's 'Limelight' and it's just silly. And when it comes time for Sonny to really be low in the dumps following the death of a character, as he wanders drunk and meets a gay drug-fueled pimp (played by Cage himself, Acid Yellow, a particularly strange and unerring figure to come at this point in the film),it's met with some mixed results as Franco is good but everything else seems forced or fake. But, again, usually with his actors he gets good work, and a feeling of a 1950's existential crisis comes out of the material that works for Franco to play up (frankly he might even be better than Dean in some cases, perhaps slightly channeling young Cage to boot),and the ending of the film is a very nice twist.

It's not something to rush out to rent or buy, and I'm sure only die-hard Cage enthusiasts or fans of the actors will really seek it out (any die-hard fans of Blethyn out there?). On its own terms, however modest, it comes in with a swagger and heartbeat and does its own thing to some good if not great effect. If Cage has another project he wants to direct, I'll show some interest if not overwhelming enthusiasm.