[projekktor id=’28352′]
The precocious youngster is a fun, if overused cinema trope, but with The Book of Henry director Colin Trevorrow takes it into bold and squirm-inducing new directions. The up-and-coming director has only two feature films under his belt (Safety Not Guaranteed, Jurassic World) and one enormous film on the horizon (Star Wars: Episode IX), but with his newest film he swings for the fences like a veteran slugger, crafting a child prodigy that would make Kevin McAllister blush, and making a film so preposterous you almost have to admire it.
The titular Henry (Jaeden Lieberher) is an eleven year old boy living with his younger brother Peter (Jacob Tremblay) and single-mother Susan (Naomi Watts) in a large suburban house. In the woods that serve as their backyard is an enormous treehouse patched together with spare doors, street signs and other assorted detritus. It is the dream hangout of any kid, and as we find out quickly, Henry probably built it. Henry is a genius. We are told this in the film’s first few moments, and we’re told it again about every two minutes for the rest of the film. He engineers elaborate Rube Goldberg machines for the amusement of his brother, he works the family finances so his waitress mother can afford a giant house, he fixes waffle irons. He’s a Renaissance Kid.
Displays of Henry’s virtue come fast and furious in the film’s opening minutes, and it’s important to buy in, because if you’re not sold on Henry’s brilliance early, the film will only become more implausible than it already is. The story is simple and picks up in media res: through Rear Window-like snooping Henry has become deeply suspicious that their neighbour Glenn (Dean Norris) is abusing his step-daughter Christina (Maddie Ziegler). Yet despite Henry’s pleas to his mother, his anonymous phone calls to Children’s Aid and his conversations with the school principal, his appeals go unheeded. It doesn’t help that Glenn is the police commissioner, and his brother (conveniently) is in charge of Children’s Aid. When Henry and his mother see a woman being roughed up by her boyfriend in a supermarket, Susan tells him it’s “none of their business”. Clearly, Henry’s on his own.
So he begins to put together a detailed plan to free Christina from her step-father’s clutches, laying it all out in a red notebook. Unfortunately, he falls suddenly ill, confining him to the hospital and leaving it up to his mother to carry out the plan. Giving any more details on the story will only serve to spoil the outrageous twists and turns this film takes, but though the story itself is rather lean, there is nothing safe or minor about Trevorrow’s choices. This film has all the subtlety of a Paul Verhoeven film and none of the nuance. It exposes its characters to torture and anguish all with the sort of jaunty aplomb of a family film. Its got all the concerns of Kick-Ass, but none of the criticism. It’s like Home Alone if Kevin McAllister murdered the bandits halfway through the film, and spent the remainder dissolving their corpses in a bathtub. It’s morally…deranged.
And yet it almost works. This is in large part thanks to the performances, which help to sooth some of the ridiculousness of the story. Though Naomi Watts’ video-game playing, booze swilling single-mom feels painfully artificial, she’s still a heck of a presence. Sarah Silverman provides some much needed levity as Susan’s drunken co-worker Sheila. Dean Norris is suitably scary in a one-dimensional villain role. But the the highlights are Jaeden Lieberher and Jacob Tremblay. Like he did in Jurassic World, Trevorrow finds the film’s few authentic moments in the interactions between brothers, and both actors display skill beyond their years.
Despite the bad taste left in your mouth by many of the film’s plot points, you kind of have to hand it to Trevorrow for his “go big or go home” attitude. The whole film plows forward with reckless abandon, making crazy choices and giving you only enough time to say “wait, what?” before moving on. During the film’s climax, Susan puts Henry’s plan into action and it’s intercut with a school talent show. The sequence builds with fantastic energy and I was on the edge of my seat throughout…even though the scene features a suburban mom with a sniper rifle attempting to murder a man only suspected of a crime by an eleven year old boy. It is a strange, excessive experience. It is a bold mistake. It makes you wonder what the heck kind of movie we’ll get from Trevorrow next.
Reviewed by Evan Arppe.
