The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet
Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Amelie)
Starring: Kyle Catlett, Helena Bonham Carter, Judy Davis
Verdict: ****
Review by ANGELA TUCKER
The film adaptation of Reif Larsen’s novel The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet sees the long-awaited return of Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s signature style to our screens.
Newcomer Kyle Catlett plays the child genius T.S. Spivet, who has enough cheek-pinching cuteness to melt your heart. Spivet's narration drives most of the film as we follow his solo journey across America to accept an award at the Smithsonian Institute for inventing a perpetual motion machine.
His imagination is brought to life beautifully by Jeunet, which highlights the boy's innocence and brilliance. Jeunet’s saturated and dense cinematography is brought to life with 3D effects, which add to the beautiful surroundings of the American heartland and its rolling valleys and prairies. It's hard to get 3D right, but this does.
Spivet starts his journey by hitching a ride on a freight train from his parents' ranch in Montana, providing scenes of him struggling with an over-sized suitcase (so cute).
Audiences step inside Spivet's rich imagination as he makes friends and takes audiences through his relationship with his peculiar family. Along the way he meets some wonderfully strange characters, and by the time he reaches the Smithsonian, Spivet questions everything he thought he knew about himself and his family.
With a bug-loving scientist (Helena Bonham Carter) as a mother, a cowboy who was “born a hundred years too late” as a father (Callum Keith Rennie) and a beauty pageant-loving sister (Niamh Wilson), Spivet is left to cope with a family tragedy by himself.
The film explores what it means to be kid, how to deal with loss and the concept of being part of a family you feel you don’t really belong to.
Carter delivers a stunning performance, in a role beyond her usual manic style. Carter gives the quirky mother who is absorbed in her work a relatable and loveable warmth.
The film has a bit of everything when it comes to odd characters, including a talking dog and a selfie-loving truck-driver, but the plot moves slowly and it starts to become a bit bland. Despite this, Jeunet brings the film to a clever and heart-felt end.
If you loved the quirkiness of Amelie, you’ll love this heart-warming, coming-of-age film. The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet is sure to delight lovers of art house films such as The Submarine, Moonrise Kingdom and of course, Amelie. Just a warning, though: have the tissues handy.
The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet is showing at Cinema Nova.