Falcon the very definition of a feel-good movie
The Peanut Butter Falcon (M, 97 mins) Directed by Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz Reviewed by Graeme Tuckett ★★★★
We are in North Carolina. At a residential, ‘‘assisted living’’ facility, a place where society dumps its special cases. The ones who have just enough family and means to stay off the streets, but not quite enough to live in anything other than a glorified prison. Zak is a young man with Down syndrome. He dreams of freedom and of being a professional wrestler, pretty much in that order.
Or at least of meeting his idol, the fabulously monikered ‘‘Salt Water Redneck’’.
Escaping one night, with the help of room-mate Carl (Bruce Dern, who’s 83 and enjoying a brilliant late-career resurgence), Zak hides on a fishing boat, moored not too far away on the bayou.
Come the morning, still wearing nothing but the undies and the smile he escaped with, Zak finds himself the unwitting passenger of Tyler, a young man with a past that needs to be escaped and very few pleasant prospects ahead.
An unlikely alliance is born, as Tyler heeds his better angels and makes the time to look out for Zak, and Zak taps into all the resources of bravery and dignity that are his birthright and starts to look out for Tyler in return.
The Peanut Butter Falcon is an absolute gem. You might have spotted, from the recap, that the film is a loose retelling of Huckleberry Finn, but that doesn’t do justice to the grit and insight that co-writers and directors Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz bring to this yarn.
First-timer Zack Gottsagen is a delight as Zak, putting together a transparent embodiment of a young man who doesn’t quite know yet that the whole world is out there, just waiting for anyone with the honesty and courage to walk upon it.
Next to him, as the troubled Tyler, Shia LaBeouf hands in his most likeable work in years. In pursuit, Dakota Johnson is as perky and unsinkable as ever, as the nursing home employee who must find Zak and bring him back.
The Peanut Butter Falcon is the very definition of a truly feel-good movie. It is smart, witty and never panders to, or patronises, its audience.
The locations are well used – New Zealand-born cinematographer Nigel Bluck makes those vast Carolina and Florida skies and waterways glow – and the performances all ring perfectly true.
‘‘Family movie’’ is too often a droll code for something cynical and dashed off. The Peanut Butter Falcon is a gorgeous exception.