Description:

Frenz is the story of two boys -- one mentally retarded -- during the summer of 1945. Eight-year-old Jackie confronts his fear of a mentally retarded teen named Joey and comes face-to-face with the meanderings of his own mind, his fears of the unknown, and his own lack of self-control. He is befuddled by Joey’s appearance, garbled talk, crudeness, and mood swings in light of his otherwise gentle, fun nature. He favors Joey’s simple craziness to a bully’s mean craziness and a gang’s sociopathic craziness. The bully stomps him, and the gang involves him in the rape of a runaway girl. The story climaxes in a bloody knife fight from which the boys must save one another.