The Parts You Lose

It's the difficulty of growing up due to parts of yourself that you lose in the process specially if you're physically impaired. This is the point that the film drives home quite well.

Great acting by young Danny Murphy, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Scott McNairy and Aaron Paul. They make sure that we get it. The interaction between Aaron Paul and Danny Murphy (who's really deaf in real life) is so heartwarming more so because Wesley is hungry for a father's affection. You wished it would've ended differently. But that it did the way it did makes it more memorable.

It's shot in winter, and the drabness heightens Wesley's passage to a new life stage, gloomy but wiser.

Its a film, shot in a layer of greengrey subtle surroundings where the smoky mist of whatever inoors wouldve killed me before saying''fire''.no fires for sure, just a gentle subsad story taking place somewhere out in the icecold snowy northern plains somewhere in the dakotas.

its a film about a deaf boy that does his samaritan duty to help people in despair, but in this case he helps and hides a murderous criminal in a building near his home. its not a happy boy , being bullied at school and messed around by his father who treats him like a thorn in the ay, the boys mother is a passive bystander not knowing what to do and his sister is a bigger star to the father than he will ever be. this leads to a deep and emotional connection to the criminal, and the boy does all of his might to feed, take care of and protect his new figure of trust.

its a drama with some indirect crime put into it, the location and setting hits a bullseye to tell a harsh and bitterly sad story. the narrative are heavily based on what a deaf child would percept from his sourroundings, so far well done. the cast does an above average job, the child acting are great, the score are subtle and grieving, and the filmatographic impression are outstandding.

its a very viewable flick of sad living, and the only major drawbback seeing this film is the slow driven pace of the plot. there are also a few inconsistensies and unrealistic takes in the story , e.g its snow on the ground all the time, and nobody sees the footprints in the snow from the evasive child hiding the fugitive, not even the police searching the premises at least 3 times.

the grumpy old man does recommend, its not funny, and doesnt suit children under 9, but may be a wake up call to everyone else

This scheme of a friendship between a boy and a fugitive is not new at all, we already have seen this before. But this little movie is really well done, with convincing acting and directing too. This is a psychological drama and a character study. I would have easily imagined Mathias Schoenaerts in the fugitive role. Maybe because he is so in love with horses - why not a tribute to Sterling Hahden's character in ASPHALT JUNGLE - as Schoenaerts was in NEVADA.

Danny Murphy portrays Wesley here, a lonely, hearing-impaired, and bullied 10-year-old boy who bonds with a wounded fugitive (Aaron Paul) after Wesley finds him in the snows of North Dakota. Wesley offers the fugitive shelter and food while he recovers and in return receives much need life's lessons.

The pacing here is extremely slow and some of the plot elements are nonsensical, like how can Wesley's mother (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) have seemingly no clue that her son is gone for long periods of time. Although the acting is solid, with Winstead being one of my favorite actresses, the lack of energy in the film hampered it greatly, in my opinion.

Overall, although I was interested enough to stay with the movie to see how it would eventually turn out, it just became too much of a slog.

I am terrible at writing reviews, and rarely see the point in doing so, given that there are so many that are fake or of otherwise negative intent. But I felt compelled to review this film.

I grew up starving for a positive male role model, and so I related quite strongly to this story. I can understand those who don't have that connection finding the film slow or outright boring.

For my part, though, I very much enjoyed a story that spoke to the need for such a figure in a young boy's life.

My uncle actually moved in with us for a time, and I relished it--but my mother thought his dating lifestyle was a negative influence, so she kicked him out. It was agonizing to me. And yet I said nothing.

We are human beings that have needs. Being ignored and/or abused and/or ridiculed relentlessly are not among them.

Thank you for telling a worthwhile story from such an incredibly rare angle.