George Washington marks the stunning debut of David Gordon Green, 24, a writer and director of rare grace and feeling. The plot has nothing to do with our bewigged first president. George (Donald Holden) is a thirteen-year-old black boy living in a multiethnic town in North Carolina. He hangs with a handful of friends around a rusted-out railroad station. The film is narrated by Nasia (Candace Evanofski) in a style that evokes the Linda Manz voice-over in Terrence Malick's Days of Heaven. Nasia, who has just broken up with Buddy (Curtis Cotton III), sees quiet George as a romantic hero. It's a sharp contrast to the relationship between beefy Vernon (Damian Jewan Lee) and Sonya (Rachael Handy), a blond twig of a girl who helps Vernon steal a car. During a game, one of the kids is accidentally killed. A decision is made to hide the body, and Green focuses on how that decision affects the lives of the kids. Using nonprofessional actors and mostly improvised dialogue, Green creates a dreamlike evocation of youth — the delicacy of Ted Orr's widescreen camerawork is extraordinary — that is shattered by a pressing need for maturity. At times, the film recalls River's Edge and Kids as well as Days of Heaven, but, in essence, Green has created a work of startling originality that will haunt you for a good, long time.

“Youth Knows No Pain”

“Like on 'Youth Knows No Pain' — we are the ones that should demonstrate, because we can take it,” Likke Li said. “We can pierce ourselves, take Ecstasy, dance all night and still go to work at our McDonald's jobs.” Despite the hedonistic sentiment in the song, the Swedish singer also admitted in hindsight her youth had repercussions. “I remember when I was 18-19 and feeling that I know it all,” Li said. “I always feel that I know it all. But that song is about realizing you don’t, and reflecting, ‘Boy, if I only knew what would follow.’”