Review: I Swear
Official Synopsis: John Davidson (Robert Aramayo) was diagnosed with Tourette's syndrome at a young age in the 80's which alienated him from his peers as he struggled with a condition few people had witnessed.
I've been singing Robert Aramayo's praises for the past couple of years due to his work on Prime's Rings of Power. His Elrond is better than Hugo Weavings. There, I said it. So I've been anticipating this film for quite some time. Even with the BAFTAs controversy looming over it, I Swear will likely go down in history as THE movie about Tourette's Syndrome.
We meet John as a young teenager played by Scott Ellis Watson. Life is going good for him until he starts developing ticks that he can't control. We then skip 13 years and catch up with John as an adult, who starts to live with his friend's family and bonds with Dottie ( Maxine Peake) and eventually gets a job alongside Tommy. (Peter Mullen)
The film skips the initial diagnosis process in the time jump and picks up John already diagnosed and not liking the medication he's on. For a biopic about an illness, that is a different choice, but it does lead to a (probably unintentional) weird anti-medication stance because this is only brought up this one time and never mentioned again. I'm not well educated in Tourette's Syndrome, but I thought this was an odd thing to never return to.
Part of that I believe is Kirk Jones just being an overall weak director. The way some of the scenes in this film end seem so unsure of themselves. Like they just have to cut to black and move on. There's no sense of transition. So on a technical level, it's not a great movie, but the performances make up for it in leaps and bounds.
Aramayo is fantastic. I hope he can remain in the Best Actor conversation towards the end of the year because he absolutely deserves it. Peake and Mullen give wonderful supporting turns as well. And the film does a great job of educating on Tourettes. It will hit you right in the heartstrings towards the end when John starts meeting with other people that suffer from it.
Even though it's not perfect, the performances are and that makes it worth seeing.
Grade: B
I do want to see this as it does look interesting despite what happened at the BAFTAs though I think the guy who said didn't mean what he said and at least apologized. Still, I am intrigued as the only other film I know that had a good depiction on Tourette's is Niagara Niagara starring Robin Tunney from 1997.
ReplyDeleteI was trying to think of more instances of Tourette's representation too and I felt bad because the only thing I could think of is that episode of South Park where Cartman pretends he has it. I remember that being the first time I saw the ticks of Tourette's being portrayed and not just the swearing part of it.
DeleteI would like to see this. I'm hopeful that it will show up on a streaming service relatively soon--I don't live in an area where films like this get a screening.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised my theater got it. Thought I was going to have to wait for streaming as well, but it will be worth the wait when you catch it!
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