Plot
Wendy is a 21 year old woman with moderate autism. She lives in a residential care facility, where she is cared for by the kind hearted Scottie.
Wendy is Star Trek obsessed, and wants to enter a competition to win $100k, by writing her own script. When it gets too late to mail it off, she decides to travel herself from San Francisco to Los Angeles and hand it in person.
When she ‘goes missing’ Scottie calls Wendy’s absent sister Audrey (who has recently given birth) to assist in finding her.
Cast Characters
Dakota Fanning sheds her child acting prodigy in this wonderful performance. She portrays adult autism well, and gives a moving performance.
Toni Collette plays Scottie, Wendy’s carer. Like always she gives a wonderfully empathetic performance with a flawless American accent.
Alice eve plays Audrey, Wendy’s sister. She is seen as being a stranger in the friendship between Wendy and Scottie, having put her own needs ahead of her sister. She is essentially “the audience” as we too are strangers in this journey.
Breakdown
While Wendy is clearly autistic, the actual diagnosis isn’t ever used. As a parent of an autistic child, I thought that they portrayed her severity well enough. I wanted to know more about the relationship between Audrey and Wendy, and the why they had been separated for so long.
Touching more on Wendy and her triggers like noise and touch (the way she hugs Scottie), and her full circle moments of able to do this with her young niece Ruby.
I quite enjoyed the narrative, and the way Wendy’s obstacles are presented (can’t mail the letter on Sunday, holiday Monday, getting kicked off the bus, getting robbed and finally the bus crash) make you feel sorry for her. Her week is one of the hardest I’ve seen a character go through and my heart actually broke when her manuscript gets knocked out of her hand and then blown away!
I loved some of the supporting cast, like Patton Oswalt who plays a fellow “trekkie” and police officer who helps find Wendy (and Wendy allows physical contact) and Marla Gibbs as Rose- who helps Wendy from being taken advantage of. She reveals she has a grandson “like her” and that got to me, having a son who is severely autistic, the community within are very supportive.
I loved Wendy’s “do you know who I am” rant at the end (when they refuse to let her drop it in person) even though it felt out of place for her. I loved the idea that she didn’t win either,as it removes the “Hollywood” ending. She gets her happy ending regardless with her relationships with her sister and niece restored.
Overall
I really quite enjoyed this. The performances by the three women are sensational, especially Fanning and Collette. I would have liked to see an expansion on the relationship between Wendy and Audrey – and the explanation on why Wendy was abandoned.
Overall, as a parent to a special needs kid myself, I found this to be an almost true representation of autism.
Great job!
4/5
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