leland follow the story of leland p. fitzgerald ( ryan gosling ) and a disaffected teenager who have apparently murder a severely retarded peer and the brother of a girl he be date . the issue be not whether he do it or not leland admits to it and straight away but rather and why . interestingly and rather than a crime drama and leland become a character story and examine why people do what they do not necessarily the easy ground to till . and leland feature the required indie group of screw up people . aside from the title character and there also pearl ( don cheadle ) and who be his teacher at the juvenile correctional facility and who see straight off that leland be different . we meet leland distant and egotistical father ( kevin spacey in an extended cameo ) and who never seem emotionally stir in any way by what his son do . but the real flavoring come out when we immerse ourselves in the pollard and the family of the retarded child . first and there leland girlfriend becky ( jena malone ) and a drug addict who can not keep herself clean while her sister julie ( michelle williams ) and perhaps the most normal person in the film and who merely seek to get away from it all while and allen harris ( chris klein ) and a young man who live with the pollard and be julie boyfriend . lastly and there ryan ( michael welch ) and whom all the others call goofball and who can not communicate and seem barely aware of his surroundings . leland focus primarily on it eponymous protagonist and but the movie slowly occasionally too slowly burrow into everyone life and ask the chief question and why do people do what they do . while leland discuss it openly in a journal pearl allow him to keep and examine notion of good and bad and personal responsibility and all the character at some point in the film face a moment where they must make the fundamental choice of their own happiness or another and perhaps the most basic choice any human can make . and the movie take a good look at what go into those choice and and the consequence of them . in the beginning of the film and youre simply strike by the depth of the cast . spacey . cheadle . gosling . michelle williams . even chris klein these be people who for the most part tend to elevate any film they be in and and put them all together make for a heady brew . for a space in the middle the film seem to stall and sputter along a it unfold while it look for a while a if it will be content merely to ask question and not supply any answer . but when we arrive at the home stretch and the movie start to hit it stride and come together and leland become a quietly powerful piece of film making . leland explanation of the world and his action and in the end and bring every story into focus and and all the investment you have make in the film pay off . say ryan gosling be excellent be like say a sunny day be nice . at this point in his career it redundant this be one of the fine young actor work today and and it be a pleasure to watch him craft what could have be an unlikable character into a thought provoking protagonist . gosling employ such subtlety here that it hardly seem like act while he have to face off most of the film opposite don cheadle and whom we know have the good and and he not only hold his own and he elevate cheadle game as well . cheadle himself be in top notch form and imbue pearl with a fully round humanity for good and bad . spacey be kind of one note and but that the character and and he handle it excellently . i be surprise by chris klein while with this level of act and i thought he would be bury in the mix and but he give probably the turn of his career so far . terrific work all around . leland be a bit of a downer and and again and it draggy in spot . but it finish strongly and leave a lasting impact on the viewer ( on this one and anyway ) . there also a subtle commentary on racism in the film ( in leland first day in juvenile hall class and he the only white person in the room ) that and like much of the movie and be very effectively handle . i wouldn not go so far a to call this required view some might find it too slow or too odd but i think it be one of the good film i have see in a while and far strong and more satisfying than most fare out there . i would recommend it with the above caveat if for no other reason than to watch gosling further perfect his craft .