Director: Sean Michael Beyer
Writer: Sean Michael Beyer, Matthew Luke Andrews (Screenplay) Matthew Luke Andrews, Kevin G Schmidt, Sean Michael Beyer, Zack Bennett (Story)
Starring: Adam Carbone, Scout Taylor-Compton, Marycarmen Lopez, Massi Furlan, Kevin G Schmidt, Richard Riehle, Michael Emery
Plot: A coming-of-age love story about an aspiring artist with autism.
Tagline – “Autism is what I have, it’s not who I am.”
Runtime: 1 Hour 42 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Coming-of-Age Delight
Story: Randy’s Canvas starts as we meet Randy (Carbone) an autistic young man with a talent and dream to become an artist, working at a gallery, one of his pieces gets displayed causing him to lose him job when Maurizio D’Oro (Furlan) singles his work out as the best in the gallery.
Maurizio takes Randy under his wing spotting his talent, trying to help him make his own name in the industry, giving him a chance to audit a famous art lecturer’s class. Starting the class opens him up to the world more learning about love and not being afraid that people will judge him.
Thoughts on Randy’s Canvas
Characters – Randy is the autistic young man who uses art to show his feelings, which he happens to be very talented. He likes a simple job and fails to follow instructions from lecturers, mentors and even family. His first love puts a shadow over the potential he has, he will need to learn fast to get the future he could have. Cassie is a classmate that offers Randy friendship because she has the same dream as Randy. Sienna becomes the first love for Randy, she does have her own boyfriend though, she likes hanging out with the brothers seeing them in a different light to her boyfriend. Maurizio is the gallery owner that sees the talent Randy has and wants to help him realize his potential. We also have Henry who is Randy’s brother that will always put his arm around him when he needs it and tries to guide him through everyday life.
Performances – Adam Carbone in the leading role does an excellent job at balancing the autistic side to his character where he doesn’t make it feel unrealistic and makes us understand that Randy could well be a real person. Scout Taylor-Compton is good in her role which is supporting one, with Marycarmen Lopez doing a great job with her performance of a lady put in a difficult position. Massi Furlan is the most entertain performer to watch because we have that feeling about what we think art gallery owners are like.
Story – The story here follows an autistic artist given a chance of a lifetime only that he struggles to follow instruction which could take away this chance after he falls in love with a girl on a night out with his brother. While the core of the story is something we know and enjoy watching, where the story shines in putting the spotlight on autistic people, they do have the talent and work just like any other people, we get to see the slight difference between the processing they must make, we see how even the biggest enemy can learn to understand they don’t understand how they feel. On the side story about this movie we did have autistic people working on the production of this movie to paint an accurate portray of autism which is something everyone should be seeing unfold.
Comedy/Romance – The comedy in the film comes from Randy’s innocence behavior about situations, Maurizio’s speeches and mostly feel good moments. The romance shows Randy that women might come into his life, while they won’t mistreat him, he needs to learn the difference between love and friendship.
Settings – The film gives us a couple of settings, they do feel like everyday settings, the home, bar, school, gallery, each would be a place where Randy could find inspiration.
Scene of the Movie – Randy’s show.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – The fact Henry doesn’t inform Maurizio about the autism from the first meeting.
Final Thoughts – This is one of the best coming of age movies you will see this year, it does have an important message about how equal and patient people should be with autistic people and shows us just how dreams will take time.
Overall: Must watch coming of age movie.
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