If you have two eyes and a beating heart, then by the time that this article is over and you’ve soaked up the trailer for Jean-Pierre Jenuet’s The Young and Prodigious Spivet, you’ll probably be holding back a few sniffles. My advice is to just deal with it head-on and accept that stories of precocious little inventors following their dreams in a world crafted by the director who brought us Amelie can best even the manliest of men. There, there.
T.S. Spivet (Kyle Catlett) is a gifted inventor who sets out to leave his family’s eccentric Montana ranch in pursuit of Washington, DC when the Smithsonian Institute wants to give him an award. Dad (Callum Keith Rennie) fancies himself a cowboy, while mom (Helena Bonham Carter) is a naturalist. It seems that no one is quite aware of the level of giftedness T.S. possesses, but what’s truly impressive is his ability to hitchhike that far with no money or real sense of definite direction without facing grave danger.
Check out the trailer for yourself, via Twitch:
Coming from Jenuet, you can tell right away that Spivet’s journey will be whimsical (Amelie, remember), and in any other instance that should be incredibly hokey. But damnit, it’s effective. That soaring music starts, and you just want him to succeed, okay? He’s a boy genius that the Smithsonian is awarding for his invention. Look at his tiny tux! Look at his crying parents in the audience and his terrified doe eyes!
The Young and Prodigious Spivet premieres in France in October, but we’re still waiting on a US release date. Rather sooner than later, because it is best not to bottle your emotions.
