T.S. Spivet **** (2013, Kyle Catlett, Helena Bonham Carter, Judy Davis) – Movie Review

Kyle Catlett stars as the titular T.S. Spivet a 10-year-old prodigy into cartography and scientific inventions. When he gets news from the Smithsonian Museum telling him he’s won the prize for his discovery of the perpetual motion machine, he runs off from rural Montana on a freight train to reach Washington DC to give a speech at a reception in his honour. of course, the Museum’s expecting some old bloke.

Amusing, charming and brilliant visually, Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s gorgeous and astounding film is arguably the best-looking movie of the year, delighting in its marvellous use of 3D, making the screen look like a kids’ pop-up book come to life.

Catlett and a highly engaged Helena Bonham Carter as his mom give excellent performances, making their characters and their relationship sweet and worthwhile. Judy Davis over-plays her hand as the Smithsonian academic who befriends Spivet, but she does jolly things up nicely anyway, and has the less good send-up of academia to handle.

Spivet also has a 14-year-old sister (Niamh Wilson as Gracie) who dreams of becoming Miss America, a cowboy dad (Callum Keith Rennie) born 100 years too late and a late younger brother Layton, who died in an accident involving a firearm in the family’s barn. Spivet was with him, measuring the scale of the gunshots for an experiment.

Based on the book The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet by Reif Larsen, the screenplay isn’t one of ideas but of a child-like sense of fun and discovery and of sentimental wonderment, with a bit of amiable but slightly dopey and obvious media satire thrown in.

Relishing itself as an experience, the film outclasses Jeunet’s Amelie as a quirky delight. The film won the award for Best Cinematography at the 39th César Awards. It was shot in Montréal, Québec, from June 18 to October 12 2012.

Jeunet regular Dominique Pinon appears briefly as Two Clouds. The title is AKA as The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet.

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(C) Derek Winnert 2014 Movie Review

Link to Derek Winnert’s home page for more film reviews: http://derekwinnert.com/