Tag: autisim

FAR FROM THE TREE – Review

As the Summer movie season winds down, one type of film not usually known for hitting theatres this time of year seems to be finding an appreciative and big audience. Of course the major box office news has been dominated by action films, particularly the superhero flicks from AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR to INCREDIBLES 2. That’s really no big shock. But another surprise story of these warm months is the respectable (for these low budgets) grosses of several documentary feature films. Sure some of the bigger hits focus on entertainment figures like Fred Rogers and Whitney Huston, but a few have caused a stir over their compelling family stories, like the heart-wrenching THREE IDENTICAL STRANGERS. Now comes another feature doc about family, no make that families. That’s because it’s part of a sub-genre of documentaries that are also anthologies. Multi-story movies have been a staple for many years, especially in the horror genres with such diverse offerings as DEAD OF KNIGHT to the more recent VHS flicks. The last anthology doc that made a splash might have been FREAKANOMICS, based on the book in 2010. It just so happens that this new entry is also based on an acclaimed book. It profiles families in which the offspring differed greatly from their parents. Or as they saying goes, they “sprang” FAR FROM THE TREE.

Said book is the work of Andrew Solomon who serves as the “host’ or narrator that ties all these stories together (much like the “Crypt Keeper” in the original TALES FROM THE CRYPT horror anthology). Solomon tells of growing up as an “odd duck” in an upper class East Coast family in the late sixties. When he realized he was gay, he “came out” to his parents, who rejected him (their hostility is shocking). Solomon channeled his heartache into scholarly research into other families in which the children were quite different from their folks. We then meet four such families. First is the story of Jason, who gained some fame in the mid seventies when his parents rejected the “experts’ and set out to teach their Down Syndrome child. At that time (just a touch over 40 years ago) the medical community believed such children couldn’t fit into to society and told mothers to give them up. But Jason and his Mom and Dad proved them wrong. We see news footage from that period with Jason even appearing on TV’s “Sesame Street”. Now at age 41, he works in an office delivering mail and lives in a supervised house with two other mentally challenged men. But Mom is concerned that Jason is drifting quickly into a fantasy world (after the death of his adored papa). The next subject is Jack, a young autistic man. In interviews, his parents talk of how the bright happy infant slowly vanished. They vent their frustrations and despair, but they never give up hope. That faith pays off when jack is finally matched with an unorthodox therapist who breaks through to him. The film shifts to shy Loini, a teenage girl dealing with dwarfism. Her encouraging mother takes her to the St. Louis meeting of The Little People of America, where she breaks out of her shell as she meets people “like her”. One of them is the slightly older, more vocal Leah who is trying to start a family with her husband, another “little person” who uses a motorized chair, Joe. But the last profile may be the most compelling. In Texas we meet a middle aged husband and wife as they root through the contents of a storage closet. After a few moments, the wife asks about the location of their eldest son’s school sports team photos. The husband replies in a low soft tone, “The cops took it”. We then learn that their high school-age son Trevor is serving life in prison without parole for the brutal senseless murder of an eight year-old boy. The film makers follow them and their other son and daughter has they try to carry on even as they respond to the occasional collect call from prison. Intercut with the progress of Solomon’s life, the film makers revisit the families, as they deal with their triumphs and challenges.

Director Rachel Dretzin deftly tells these family tales with an unobtrusive hand, letting the principals relate their history without jarring, flashy camera or optical techniques and an off camera narrator to prod their responses. There’s no re-enactments, no title cards (other than first names) or animation, just interviews and candid footage (new and home videos), aside from the occasional archival TV news footage (in the stories of Jason and Trevor). Solomon’s story pops in and out, between segments, and often, sometimes bridging the other tales, but usually compelling on its own, as with the sleazy 42nd Street “doctors’ who could “cure” men of sexual shyness via “assistants’ when the Big Apple developed some mold in the 70’s. Speaking of that decade, Jason’s story becomes an examination of what happens when fame fades. He was a media darling then, but now there’s little “unique” in his challenges. This may be a big reason for his belief that his mythic idol actually exists on the other side of the globe (Norway). After the moving film from 2016, LIFE, ANIMATED, Jack and his parents crisis is a bit familiar, but the raw emotions when his mother vents her frustration is heartbreaking. As with Jason, Loini’s tale of breaking away really shifts gears, smoothly leading into the love story of Leah and Joe. They’re man and wife as true partners, a united, supportive team in their quest to expand their family (aided considerably by Joe’s snarky sense of humor). But this team has a great team behind them as we meet their kind, incredibly nurturing parents, whose joy provides some epic tear-jerking scenes. They’re all upbeat, life-affirming stories about “can do” families. Then there’s the family of Trevor, perhaps the most compelling of the quartet of profiles. There are no upbeat scene beats. The tragedy will never end (much as with the family of the child who Trevor dispatched). At least Trevor still exists, a “living ghost’ in a limbo of collect phone conversations (which sound much like a faraway college student’s weekly “check in”). The only triumph is the continuation of the family (such a horrific incident will split most marriages). Mom and Dad forge on, mainly for their remaining children, as they confess that they’ll never have kids for fear that murderous gene could be passed on. Trevor’s parents  have even erased him. When meeting new people, they only mention the two children. If the truth is found out, questions are raised that can’t be answered (“How did your parenting skills create a killer?”, “What did you do?”). It’s engrossing, powerful film making, worthy of its own solo feature. But it’s just one component that makes FAR FROM THE TREE another of the year’s best feature documentaries.

4 out of 5

FAR FROM THE TREE opens everywhere and screens exclusively in the St. Louis area at Landmark’s Plaza Frontenac Cinemas

 

JANE WANTS A BOYFRIEND – Review

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Just from glancing at this film’s title you might think that you’re in for another frothy “rom-com”, or perhaps a peppy teen comedy that ends with a “make-over’ montage prior to a jubilant dance number at the senior prom. Well, you’d be mistaken, maybe pleasantly mistaken. Though one name is mentioned in its title, this sweet little “indie” flick really concerns that lady and her older sister, Bianca, who’s found her fella’. She’s the one playing “cupid”, a challenge since her sis’ must deal with many, many challenges. This tale is a search for romance, but also a love story of these young women, a relationship that is tested when JANE WANTS A BOYFRIEND.

As the film begins, Bianca (Eliza Dushku) is in the last days of rehearsal as the fairy queen Titania in a big new stage production of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, a job that will finally make the young woman a full-time actress. She’s also gotten a job in wardrobe for her timid, but creative younger sister Jane (Louisa Krause), who is on the autism spectrum with Asperger’s syndrome. Bianca is also throwing a house-warming party in a couple of days at the apartment that she now shares with her longtime beau Rob (Amir Arison), a staff reporter at a newspaper. But first, there’s the birthday breakfast for Jane where their parents (Polly Draper and Gregg Edelman) drop a bombshell. They’re selling the family house in Manhattan and moving to Jersey. Plus they think that Jane should move in with Bianca and Rob (don’t want to disrupt Jane’s routine). As if that’s not enough for Bianca, she’s working her final bartending shift that night at the Fish Bar. Luckily she gets a visit there from Rob’s buddy Jack (Gabriel Ebert), a rakish, unanchored sous chef. While Bianca is in the back of the bar, Jane drops in to deliver a batch of her homemade cookies. Jack attempts to engage her in conversation, but the shy Jane departs quickly, before Bianca returns. The next night Jack spots Jane at the housewarming. The two talk and connect up on the rooftop patio, until Bianca breaks them up, warning Jack to back off! He hurriedly leaves as Jane confesses to her sis’ that she wants a boyfriend. Bianca enlists the help of her best pal Cynthia (Anisha Nagarajan) to find a suitor with the same challenges as Jane. But despite Rob and Bianca’s warnings, Jack will not be deterred. Somehow he will meet up with Jane once more. But can they re-connect despite all the obstacles thrown in their way?

Krause portrays the title character with great sympathy and depth, never resorting to “actorly” tricks and tics to convey Jane’s condition. There’s a spontaneity in her performance adding to the unpredictable nature of the character. We can see the wonder in her eyes and body language as she strains to break free of her shell and experience adulthood and romance. She’s a great acting partner to screen vet Dushku in the less “showy”, but very pivotal role of Bianca, not only a sister, but for much of the story, a parent. For most of her career, she has been the exotic dangerous femme fatale, particularly as the iconic Faith on TV’s “Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but here Dukshu shows us a softer side, the nurturing, supportive sibling. But Bianca’s no simpering saint as we see when she snarls at Jack in that memorable party scene (“mama Grizzly”!). And there’s the frustration as she tries to help, but is accused of “smothering” (a “helicopter sister”?). It’s confident, compelling work from the charismatic screen talent.

But let’s not neglect the men in the sisters’ lives. In his first scenes Ebert’s Jack is the strutting boastful “playa” around Bianca. After meeting Jane, we can see in his face that a switch as been activated, that Jack has to change. This may be best conveyed in a terrific monologue that he delivers about wanting to master soups. Ebert’s delivery makes it clear that Jack’s not really talking about that food staple. He has a couple of great scenes with the talented Arison, especially when Jack pressures Rob to give up Jane’s phone number. Amir shows us how this principled man is torn over this, and over telling Bianca about a new work opportunity. Nagarajan makes the most out of the best pal role and becomes the steadying influence and sounding board that Bianca desperately needs. Draper and Edelman are charming as the parents who need to have their own time together, to rekindle their own fire, while remaining a part of their girls’ lives. The character closest to a “villain” may be Nick Stevenson as the arrogant, intimidating stage director Harrison West, who explodes in tantrums during rehearsals. But in an interesting twist, his tirades are just the motivator needed by Bianca. The very talented ensemble sends the story soaring.

Much of their praise should be aimed at the person who guided them, director William Sullivan in only his third feature film. He knows just when to linger on a reaction or to cut away and give the action some distance and space. The scenes are framed perfectly, especially around the theatre where the story begins and ends. Ons shot of Bianca waiting off to the side of the stage, listening for her cue resembles a living oil painting (helped by cinematographer Brandon Roots). All the talents involved were, no doubt, inspired by the sensitive, inspiring screenplay by Jarret Kerr, who does double duty as Bottom to Bianca’s Titania. There’s no heavy-handed preaching here, no “after school special” vibe. The dialogue flows naturally, even as certain sequences are emotionally raw (a confrontation between Bianca and Jane after a date disaster is a dramatic doozy). The NYC locales are great backdrops to the action, but never intrude on the story’s intimacy, one that will touch many families. There’s lots of love and sweet sibling support in this warm-hearted quest as one sister learns to let go because JANE WANTS A BOYFRIEND.

4 Out of 5

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