FILM ABOUT AT-RISK YOUTH RESONATES.

Byline: David Kronke Television Critic

Earlier this month, at a Hollywood movie theater, HBO screened a film about an at-risk youth, before an audience of at-risk youths.

``Angel Rodriguez'' was shown to citizens of Covenant House/Los Angeles, a nonprofit group striving to give homeless and runaway teens a place to call their own.

The film's director, Jim McKay, and young star, Jonan Everett, were on hand to greet the kids as they filed into the theater.

``Angel Rodriguez'' is the story of a white, well-educated counselor trying to help him. Though it is fictional, McKay and his writing partner, Hannah Weyer, were inspired by a young man they met to create the story.

False bravado 

As the audience filed into the theater, there were the expected wisecracks you'd get from any young crowd.

One guy wondered aloud, ``Can we sneak into another movie afterward?''

A young woman boasted, ``I got that boy Angel Rodriguez's number! He says he's got a girlfriend, but I said, `That's OK, I got a man.' ''

The levity continued until the film began. But it was no doubt a film the crowd wasn't expecting.

McKay's film avoids the frenetic editing and hip-hop-drenched soundtracks that are aimed at such audiences. Instead, it's a quietly insightful portrait of the challenges that many of the audience members personally face.

The earlier light bravado gave way to a hush as the kids watched what was no doubt a reflection of their own life stories play before their eyes.

Afterward, Everett and McKay took questions from the audience.

Many of the questions indicated that the kids had understood the film implicitly, though a few suggested that some just didn't get the movie's deliberate pace.

One kid confessed, ``I don't get the point of the whole movie,'' while the young woman so enamored of Everett asked him, ``Do you think things would've gone smoother if you had a girl?''

Afterward, McKay, who has screened the film for other Covenant House audiences around the country, declared himself satisfied with the reception.

``I've made two other youth-oriented films, and they haven't necessarily been well received by young people all the time,'' he confessed with a laugh. ``I guess it's ringing true with them. A younger audience is typically thrown by this style. They're adult films. I'm not trying to make educational films for teenagers.

``I hope we pulled it off,'' he added. ``Some people say we did. Not many people say we haven't, but they just may be quiet afterward.''

``They've been very receptive to the film,'' Everett adds. ``I'm glad about that. There are a lot of young people in situations similar to this, and I'm glad they can relate to it. It's not too far off from what they can imagine.''

The real thing

Everett, a 16-year-old New Yorker starring in his first film, acknowledges that adoration takes some getting used to.

``It is a little weird,'' he admits. ``I had a screening last night and got mobbed by a pack of girls. Pretty funny. Not something I'm used to.''

But Everett confesses that the reason his performance resonates so deeply in viewers is that he's lived his character's life himself.

``I've been through struggles also. I know how it can be when everything's against you. It's hard to do just what you've got to do and even harder to accept responsibility for things. I know at times that I've wanted to be all grown up, yet at the same time, I don't want to grasp all those responsibilities of adulthood yet. I completely understand what (the audiences are) going through. It's a hard balance to maintain.''

David Kronke, [phone]

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(color) In his film debut, Jonan Everett plays Angel Rodriguez, a teenager who is thrown onto the street by his father and taken in by his school counselor. ``Angel Rodriguez,'' on HBO, is a story about human fallibility -- without the frenetic editing common to movies about at-risk youth.