Norman

Here is a small little indie movie that will probably go undiscovered in theaters, and I doubt will have much of a life on DVD. That's a real shame, because Norman is a sweet and smart movie. Best described as a coming of age story set around a teen faking his own death, director Jonathan Segal and screenwriter Talton Wingate have given us a film full of quiet humor, and emotional depth.

The film is a starring vehicle for young actor Dan Byrd, who broke out in last year's Easy A, and here proves he has what it takes to carry a film by himself. His character is Norman, a quiet high school student who pretty much keeps to himself, and goes to great lengths not to draw attention to himself. Part of this is that he knows no one at school likes him, let alone accepts him. A bigger part is that Norman does not want anyone to know what kind of a life he leads at home. His mom was killed not long ago in a car crash, and now his father (the invaluable Richard Jenkins, who is great as always) has developed stomach cancer, and is wasting away right before Norman's eyes. He knows he will be alone when his dad dies, and that thought scares him. He's been keeping these problems bottled up all this time to the point that Norman himself is starting to contemplate suicide.

With all these problems and frustrations at home mounting, who can blame Norman when he blows up at his best friend James (Billy Lush) during a heated argument, and tells a life-changing lie that he has cancer - stomach cancer, of course. He even shows James his dad's x-rays for "proof" that he is dying. He tells James not to tell everyone, and figures that will be the end of it. Naturally, before the school day is over, everyone in the different student cliques knows, and Norman suddenly finds himself the center of attention for the first time. His English teacher (Adam Goldberg) is sympathetic to him, and even enlists him to give a speech at a school-spirit assembly. Of course, in order to keep this lie going, he has to continue to keep his home life and the physical state of his father a secret.

While all this is happening, Norman also happens to meet a pretty young blonde girl named Emily (Emily Vancamp), who genuinely seems interested in him. She's cute, she's sunny, and it seems like an impossibility to Norman that a girl this cute and smart could actually like him. It also complicates the whole "death" thing, now that the kid's found a reason to live. Where Norman goes from here is fairly predictable, as he is forced to choose between living a lie, and admitting everything (including his feelings) to Emily. What carries the film are the heartfelt performances, especially from Byrd and Jenkins. Their father and son scenes have real emotional weight. Norman is doing his best to stay strong and supportive in front of his dying father, while we get the sense that the dad would probably be happier if his son broke down and cried right along with him. Both are straining to be strong, and it's wearing them down. Their scenes together are the strongest in the film.

The relationship that builds between Norman and Emily is also sweet, but doesn't have quite the same emotional depth. Emily is a likable character, if not a bit underwritten, but the two young actors have good chemistry together. Their scenes together are a cute little teen romance, but don't stand out much. What does stand out is the movie's sly sense of humor. It's very subtle. This is not a laugh out loud movie, but there are definitely some moments or a quick line that will catch you off guard, and make you chuckle. But it's Byrd's lead performance that really carries the film. He has a "quiet rage" that seems to constantly be bubbling under the surface that fits the character. His pain and anger is visible just enough for us to notice, but is subtle enough for us to buy that no one around him would notice it until maybe it was too late.

Norman works on the strength of its cast, and it has a lot of very good and truthful scenes. At the very least, it cements my belief that Richard Jenkins is one of our most valuable actors, and gives it his all in just about every performance, and this is no exception. If the movie stunk, I would still say it was worth seeing once for his performance. Fortunately, there's a good movie here to go along with his great performance.

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