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The elephant in the room got too big to ignore
This movie had the potential to be really great. Visually stunning with great camerawork that really emphasizes the good acting, it uses music and visuals to create a calm atmosphere with shifting nuances of release or tension. The criminal case it presented was very predictable, but interesting enough in its details.
However, I always have to deduct points en masse when movies don't excel at the one thing they are based on. In this case, that's the depiction of autism*. Let this be your warning that this attempted to be a heartwarming movie about a struggling lawer and a girl with a mental disability rather than a crime thriller.
If I was being mean, I'd suggest the writers were autistic themselves, since they apparently liked ticking off boxes on lists so meticously. We have all the stereotypes you could imagine, added a couple of typical crime plots and topped it off with throwing realism out the window whenever inconvenient.
(Disclaimer: I am autistic myself)
The elephant in the room - Autism:
The main character has Asperger's, obviously, because there's no other forms of autism. She has trouble understanding her surroundings so much that she is barely able to interact with other people unless they make a grand effort to get through to her. That is realistic, as everyone knows autistic people live in their own world, can't use emphasis when speaking and struggle reading facial expressions. They don't understand irony or sarcasm and can't lie. BUT they make up for all their "deficits" by having superpower-like abilities in mathematics, language or hypersensitivity that end up saving the day. *irony off*
Let's add some ableist language like talking away issues, using generalising phrases or pretending to know better, advocating for people who didn't ask to be advocated for.
I already knew it was utopic to wish to feel represented by a movie this heavily focused on autistic struggles, but this movie really ticked all the boxes on how to NOT approach the topic. It's not especially bad compared to other media, but it's also not better than them in the slightest. It's not like nobody with autism acts like the FL does, hence you could say it was realistic - down to the ableist approaches everyone took at her. Still, the disability is a mere plot device and handled with the same care as all other plot devices employed. As someone sensitized to the topic, I couldn't help but feel annoyed whenever I was able to cross off another stereotype or trope on my mental checklist. I'm tired of getting served the same old three streotypes in a "heartwarming bonding" trenchcoat.
What everyone else looks at - Plot:
Now, if you don't mind breezing through a couple of standards in good quality and don't specifically care about considerate portrayal of disabilities, this is still a good movie. But... is it?
Plot-wise, they attempted too little in too few time. We have the crime to solve, obviously, that then also has to be negotiated in court. On top of that, our main lead lawyer has to deal with a bunch of issues at home whilst facing a crisis at his job, leading him to also lose his closest friend (whose problems are hinted at as well), all while trying to befriend a girl with autism which he knows nothing about. Said girl obviously has her own struggles, too, which we also get insight into. While all these aspects are connected with each other quite skillfully, the balance between them didn't sit right to me. Neither the crime plot nor the development of the relationship between the two mains got the emphasis they deserved.
If this movie had focused just a little less on portraying something they obviously didn't know how to handle properly, it could have been a great plot with complexity and thoroughly characterised characters.
Tl;Dr - Conclusion:
This was still a good movie, and until approximately the last 20 minutes, I was able to focus fully on what was happening on screen. The way it was filmed and edited really helped to protray atmosphere and emotionality, hence gripping and holding my interest. Whether you will feel the main characters actually form a bond or stay somewhat distant will be up to you. What it's not is a good crime movie or a good representation of disabilities. If you leave your inner detective at home where you also store away your courtroom knowledge, chances are you'll highly enjoy watching.
*PS: I don't hold any firm view on the disability-first vs. person-first debate, hence I used both versions as I saw fit.
However, I always have to deduct points en masse when movies don't excel at the one thing they are based on. In this case, that's the depiction of autism*. Let this be your warning that this attempted to be a heartwarming movie about a struggling lawer and a girl with a mental disability rather than a crime thriller.
If I was being mean, I'd suggest the writers were autistic themselves, since they apparently liked ticking off boxes on lists so meticously. We have all the stereotypes you could imagine, added a couple of typical crime plots and topped it off with throwing realism out the window whenever inconvenient.
(Disclaimer: I am autistic myself)
The elephant in the room - Autism:
The main character has Asperger's, obviously, because there's no other forms of autism. She has trouble understanding her surroundings so much that she is barely able to interact with other people unless they make a grand effort to get through to her. That is realistic, as everyone knows autistic people live in their own world, can't use emphasis when speaking and struggle reading facial expressions. They don't understand irony or sarcasm and can't lie. BUT they make up for all their "deficits" by having superpower-like abilities in mathematics, language or hypersensitivity that end up saving the day. *irony off*
Let's add some ableist language like talking away issues, using generalising phrases or pretending to know better, advocating for people who didn't ask to be advocated for.
I already knew it was utopic to wish to feel represented by a movie this heavily focused on autistic struggles, but this movie really ticked all the boxes on how to NOT approach the topic. It's not especially bad compared to other media, but it's also not better than them in the slightest. It's not like nobody with autism acts like the FL does, hence you could say it was realistic - down to the ableist approaches everyone took at her. Still, the disability is a mere plot device and handled with the same care as all other plot devices employed. As someone sensitized to the topic, I couldn't help but feel annoyed whenever I was able to cross off another stereotype or trope on my mental checklist. I'm tired of getting served the same old three streotypes in a "heartwarming bonding" trenchcoat.
What everyone else looks at - Plot:
Now, if you don't mind breezing through a couple of standards in good quality and don't specifically care about considerate portrayal of disabilities, this is still a good movie. But... is it?
Plot-wise, they attempted too little in too few time. We have the crime to solve, obviously, that then also has to be negotiated in court. On top of that, our main lead lawyer has to deal with a bunch of issues at home whilst facing a crisis at his job, leading him to also lose his closest friend (whose problems are hinted at as well), all while trying to befriend a girl with autism which he knows nothing about. Said girl obviously has her own struggles, too, which we also get insight into. While all these aspects are connected with each other quite skillfully, the balance between them didn't sit right to me. Neither the crime plot nor the development of the relationship between the two mains got the emphasis they deserved.
If this movie had focused just a little less on portraying something they obviously didn't know how to handle properly, it could have been a great plot with complexity and thoroughly characterised characters.
Tl;Dr - Conclusion:
This was still a good movie, and until approximately the last 20 minutes, I was able to focus fully on what was happening on screen. The way it was filmed and edited really helped to protray atmosphere and emotionality, hence gripping and holding my interest. Whether you will feel the main characters actually form a bond or stay somewhat distant will be up to you. What it's not is a good crime movie or a good representation of disabilities. If you leave your inner detective at home where you also store away your courtroom knowledge, chances are you'll highly enjoy watching.
*PS: I don't hold any firm view on the disability-first vs. person-first debate, hence I used both versions as I saw fit.
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