I’ve seen a fair amount of content at VIFF this year and most of It was okay. But there was one film that stood out more than most. And it’s this one. It’s a film I could relate to, a film that made a lot of people get in touch with their emotions, and a film that was perfect for this period of time. You may be wondering why I can relate to it. It’s all about a teenage boy with autism, and I’m on the spectrum myself. While I may not have the level of autism portrayed in this film, I did go through a few non-verbal phases in my life. There were some other parts in there as well. What really benefited this film was the fact that the director Connie Cocchia was autistic as well as the lead actor Jonathan Simao who revealed he could connect to this character and was drawn to the role, but he did have to do quite a bit of research to be non-verbal.
It starts out dark and disturbing, with the Peterson family at the hospital meeting their son Kayden (Jonathan Simao) who just got in an accident. A nurse (Sindy Lau) talks to them and tries to figure things out, seeing if Kayden should be put into some special housing. But just how did things get so dark? Let’s go back to months ago when Kayden’s sister Abbie (Willow Shields) gets accepted into an Art college in California. Both her and Kayden are really good at drawing and artwork and one day they hope to work together in designing their own TV series. At first their parents Mark (Lochlyn Munro) and Tish (Elizabeth Mitchell) are concerned about finance and distance, and even Kayden gets upset about Abbie’s departure wanting to go with her. As the days go on, stress in the family only gets worse. Abbie on the other hand enjoys her new lifestyle partying at a house party where she meets another girl named Karly (Ava Capri) and they share a kiss. At first Abbie thinks nothing about this, but Karly wants to develop a relationship with her and they end up forming a magical bond together, but Abbie keeps it hidden from her family. Meanwhile, Kayden’s meltdowns get worse and he becomes more violent. The parents consider the possibility of putting him in a group home but after checking out on a particular home they decide not to. Instead, Mark gives instructions on taking the bus and withdrawing money from an ATM. Eventually, it’s the end of Abbie’s 1st semester and time for her to come home for a visit. Abbie books her tickets, hops on a plane, and makes her way back. But she can’t be greeted by a welcome wagon as something even worse happened earlier. Kayden took his 2nd bus trip alone and got into an altercation with some goons who tormented him, and threw him to the ground, much like in Joker. As the fighting and pounding gets more brutal, Kayden freaks out even more, and that brings us to the beginning, why he was sent to the hospital. Now the big question is, will he be up and at ‘em again? And how do the rest of the Petersons continue life after all of this?
Like I said, dark and disturbing. I’ve been through many issues as an autistic child that have made me uncomfortable and still go through some to this day (I’m writing this in the midst of an episode, so naturally I guess this is helping soothe me). The soundtrack is creepy and ominous getting to you when you least expect it. The colours are very minimal and gloomy adding to the feel that this is a sad story. There’s quite a couple films with autism as the focus and they all have muted colours but that adds a calming artistic feel. Connie wanted to show autism being represented more in film and I have to say she did a very good job. Autism isn’t easy to overcome, I can attest to that. But with enough motivation and perseverance anything is possible. Even better having Jonathan who compared to his on-screen counterpart was quite outgoing and talkative. He is one fine intelligent well-developed fellow who portrays autism in a positive light even in a grave film with a freaky plot.
