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Adam

Review By: Dan Deevy
DanDeevy@TheCinemaSource.com

Movie Grade: A-

What is it about pure unabashed, unfiltered honesty that terrifies us as a society? Why is the idea of telling the honest-to-God-truth considered such a horrible thing? When you think about it, political correctness tells us that lying is far more often the polite thing to do in a situation than being honest. When you’re having a really bad day and someone asks you, “How ya doing?” you are required to say, “I’m good thanks!” Or when your boss says, “How do you like my new tie?” regardless of how hideous it might be you have to say, “It looks great! Have you lost weight?” We are so bogged down in our own half truths, innuendoes and bald face lies that I doubt many of us could even accurately count the number of times we dissemble per day.

There’s a certain segment of our population that, believe it or not, isn’t affected by this and because of societies reaction to them, they often find themselves on the periphery of the social scene; that is, if they are present at all.

This film introduces us to one of these people and takes us through his life and his struggle to make sense of all the day to day lying we do just as a matter of course. The incredibly charming and magnetic Hugh Dancy plays Adam Raki a 29 year old man with Aspergers syndrome an affliction that has been describe as a high functioning type of autism. Often people with Aspergers will be quite intelligent, even on genius level but they have difficulty understanding many of what we consider to be social norms. When an attractive new neighbor moves in played by Rose Byrne, Adam finds himself struggling to come to terms with his burgeoning feelings for her while simultaneously trying to figure out a way to fit into her world.

The acting in this small little indie is nothing short of superb. Hugh Dancy does a brilliant job of creating this character who is at once childlike and innocent but also a grown man facing the world for the first time on his own without the help of his recently departed father.

Rose Byrne skillfully walks the line of a woman trying to be empathetic but also being completely attracted to a man whose outward behavior would be consider atrocious by most. You never get the sense that she is talking down to Adam or even cutting him extra slack because of his condition. You really get the feeling that you’re watching an actual honest relationship develop on screen.

It would be a disservice to the film to go into specific plot points in too much detail because it would lessen the impact when you do finally see the film. Suffice it to say each new encounter Adam has from his love interest, to his boss at work, to little ...