Rosso d'autunno

An autistic boy appears to be the only witness to a murder. Because of the boy's inability to communicate with others, a child psychiatrist must work with the child to solve the crime. I presume that the film's "take" on autism is at least reasonably accurate. But, as a murder mystery, the film was a disappointment. There just isn't that much to the story, which contains large amounts of filler. The plot is contrived. And the film's pace is very slow.

One gets the impression that the real purpose of the film is to "teach", or tutor, viewers on the subject of autism. I have no problem with that, except that by using a vulnerable child as a major character, the film becomes manipulative, in that it uses the child to invoke a sympathetic response from viewers.

The film's music, costumes, and production design are fine. Ben Faulkner, as the little boy, does a fine job in a difficult role. Other actors also give credible performances. But Richard Dreyfuss, as the psychiatrist, is dreadfully miscast. An older actor with a more refined persona would have been more believable.

If you have an interest in autism, "Silent Fall" is worth watching. And the film does have moments of suspense, especially toward the end. But the film lacks the complexity and depth to be a truly entertaining whodunit.

I like mystery tales, and this one is very good. The music is very accurate with all the scenes, and yes, I feel transported to this inner boy world. Very Strange Things happen in this movie, but yes, I think kind of things like this happen in reality, even worst. At least in Mexico all the time happens wild things with people more than in nature by itself. The actors plays their roles very well. Since long time ago, I didn't see Richard Dreyfuss, and was a pleasure for me, to see this actor again. Linda Hamilton had a very short role, but Liv Tyler is awesome. Maybe sometimes sounds like illogical, specially when the witness boy, make all this voices. Looks like unreal, but maybe this could happen. Anyway, I found this movie, because I'm always looking for Stewart Copeland music, since many years ago...

(1994) Silent Fall PSYCHOLOGICAL MYSTERY

Parents are found dead with the only survivors found are their two kids who are the older teenage daughter Sylvie played by Liv Tyler and her 7 or 8 year old autistic son Tim(Ben Faulkner). Here comes criminal psychologist Dr. Jake Rainer (Richard Dreyfuss) who has a PHd in dealing with mentally challenged children and is supposed to be retired but one his best friends Sheriff Mitch Rivers ( J. T. Walsh ) encourages his social skills to help him solve it by helping Tim to recall the events that lead up to their parents death since he may have been a witness for the whole ordeal. And because he's like 100% autistic, Dr. Jake is the only person who can expose this by reasonable means instead of using drugs and other experimental tactics used by his radical associate Dr. Rene Harlinger played by John Lithgow.

I was totally sucked up to this movie because their isn't many films that focuses on "autistic" children to solve a case, for I think this film is the first. The procedures for which this film has showed is at times quite enlightening since we the viewers may have suspect who had done it, but at the same time don't quite know how it's done until the very end. The movie also stars Linda Hamilton as Karen Rainer as Jake's wife.

First, let's admit that we're not watching this to learn the medical characteristics of autism. The purpose of watching the film is for entertainment.

That said, this film held my attention. I *DID* figure it out shortly before the end and admit that the clues were there all the way through, some pretty strong. Personally, I think that's what makes a good mystery, that it *CAN* be figured out.

Performances: I always enjoy Richard Dreyfuss' work. While he has done better, he didn't disappoint me. John Lithgow was completely believable as always. The real star, though, was Ben Faulkner as Tim, the autistic boy. Ignoring the voice dubbing for the adults (part of the script), he did a wonderful job in a part that had to be difficult at best. I find it strange that this is the only acting job he held. Hopefully, it's because he decided that he wanted to be a kid rather than an actor. Hollywood's loss.

I never thought I'd find a movie about Autism so interesting. At first it wasn't what I'd expected. Going by the cover I'd imagined it was going to be very spooky. After about 5 minutes I wanted to turn it off, but I'm glad I sat through it. The story is about a murder, but starts out a little slow. Gradually it becomes more dramatic and thought provoking as it reaches the end. YOU'VE GOT TO WATCH THIS PICTURE THROUGH TO THE END. It will stay in your mind for a very long time. The little boy, (Tim) Ben Faulkner is a brilliant actor. I haven't been able to find him in another movie and I don't understand why.He's great!!!

At the very least I'd give this movie a 6.5/10.