Taking the Scenic Route

Snow Cakes is an awesome film.  Lots of subtleties in the writing, and Sigorney Weaver did a pretty decent job of acting too.  Although some of the film had me laughing outloud at some of the lines, I doubt most people would find the same humor in some of it, but the writing was just so spot on and, at points, funny.  Like the townie that claims that she knows all about autism because she saw “that movie” and other similar things.  Don’t let me mislead you though, it is certainly NOT a comedy and belongs firmly in the drama.  It is a film more about the characters than the plot. 

After watching the film I searched around the internet to see reviews (something I often do, just to see how others viewed it).  I could definitely tell that many people did not “get it”, or that their interpretation of Sigourney’s character (the autistic woman) and her motivations, ect, came from a different knowledge set than I have, but that is to be expected.  They saw the autistic character as an allegory to how Alan Rickman’s character sees the world, and although that might be true to a degree, I saw much more in Weaver’s portrayal. 

It was good.  I highly recommend it.

I am also in the middle of “Dragons of Autism“.  The title initially put me off, but I went ahead and looked at it and am glad I did.  It is a memoir book and the “dragons” are her son’s obsession.  It is funny and poignant and I could see a lot of our lives in the book.  Some of the details are different, but the flow of life had me chuckling and nodding my head in recognition.