Stephanie Lee Jackson
Ladies, I'm going to give you a couple of scenarios, and you tell me if they sound realistic.Say you're in your late teens, early twenties. You're at your boyfriend's house, making out on the couch. His autistic cousin walks in on you. Boyfriend leaves the room. What do you do?You invite the autistic dude to sit down, move inappropriately close to him, and proceed to confuse and confound him with your teasingly seductive remarks, am I right?Or how about this. You're the stay-at-home mother of two young adults, with nothing better to do all day than get manicures and ruin dinner. Your neglectful husband adopts his autistic nephew and senile parent, expecting you to provide round-the-clock care and supervision for both of them. You quite unjustifiably behave like a raging bitch, dumping senile grandpa in a home, and emotionally abusing the nephew. But then you find that autistic nephew can cook! So you admit you are a raging bitch, he teaches you to cook, your husband pays attention to you again, and you all live happily ever after.Note to all ambitious writer/directors: if you are incapable of imagining a female character with a personality, nuanced motivation, complex emotions or an inner life, what in the world makes you think you can depict the experience of a non-neuro-typical person with anything approaching verisimilitude? What makes you think you have the right to try?
Thy Critic Man Your Superhero
Abandoned by his mother at a young age, and dropped off at his grandparents, Luke (Lou Taylor Pucci) is just like any other young man. He enjoys watching television, and is very good at certain hobbies. His aunt is eventually jealous of how just how good of a cook Luke is. Luke dreams of one day working a job, and living on his own. Just like any other young man, he also really wants to screw. But the difference is, Luke is still quite unsure what screwing means exactly.The Story of Luke is unique to what you may expect from a comedy style, coming of age, tale. It is not about someone living through teenage years, or early twenties that keeps messing up, looking for mates to screw or generally making poor choices. Instead, it takes focus on a person who the world expects nothing from. Luke does not believe this is the case however, as he feels he does have an impact to make on the world, and just wants to be like everyone else.The struggle of this young man to find a job, be able to live on his own, and to screw is going to be a lot more challenging for him. How so? Luke has autism. When his grandmother dies, and his grandfather (Kenneth Walsh) is eventually put in a home, Luke is forced to move in with his relatives Paul (Carry Elwes) and Cindy (Kristen Bauer). Before his grandfather passes away, he gives Luke some inspirational words of advice.Get a job, live on your own, and screw. This sets Luke on a journey into becoming a proper man, boosting his confidence and being able to feel comfortable in his own skin. When he does find a job, you'll be introduced to his supervisor, played by Seth Green. You'll witness his first crush on a receptionist, played by Sabryn Rock. You'll even witness Luke muster up enough strength to come face to face with his mother for the first time in years.This film was finished and over before I even knew it. I was so lost and invested into his journey that it left me wanting more. With that said, those words can mean either a positive or negative thing for a movie. The negative would be that the film did not deliver enough, and left it without a proper conclusion. On the contrary, the positive would be that the film was so good that you just did not it to be over. The Story of Luke was entertaining from beginning to end, and falls into the positive version of wanting more.However, the ending may not satisfy everyone. It was realistic and far from fairy tale, but not unfulfilled. His journey was worth the ride, and it still concluded on a strong note. Many critics called this heart warming, and I am inclined to agree with them. It made you care about Luke. I actually cringed and felt bad when people said crude words to our struggling protagonist.The acting was exceptional. Lou Taylor Pucci did his homework, and conducted himself in a manner a person with Autism would. I have a cousin who has it, and I witnessed a few similar, and key traits. It is no surprise that he was both nominated and won awards for this role. Seth Green is entertaining in his role, and so is Luke's family. No one brought this down with bad delivery of the greatly written dialogue, and everyone put significant effort into it.The comedy elements in this film worked. It is respective, and does not make Autism a laughing stock in any way. The humour is well placed, and you'll be laughing with Luke, not at him. If you are in the mood for a character-driven, feel-good, film with immensely talented actors or actresses, look no further. Director Alonso Mayo worked with people suffering from Autism and Asperger Syndrome, and he used his knowledge to construct a powerful and motivating film that deserves your attention.Watch it ASAP
Steven Snyder
I too saw this at the Maryland International Film Festival and I thought it was great. These are the types of films that I love to see in small festivals. The story was good and I thought Lou did a great job. Not to mention the fun with Seth Green. I am surprised that with all the other awards, that it didn't actually win anything at the MDIFF but it had good competition. To add to a previous review, the "International" part of Maryland International Film Festival stands for the fact that they will except films from anywhere in the world. Not that the film had to be made in more than one country. My first short film "Transient" which is not on IMDb, was part of the Official Selection.
