Title: The odd life of Timothy Green
Year: 2012
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
Ditector: Peter Hedges
Writer: Peter Hedges (written by), Ahmet Zappa (story)
Runtime: 105min
Cast: Jennifer Garner, Joel Edgerton, CJ Adams, Odeya Rush, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Rosemarie DeWitt, David Morse, M. Emmet Walsh, Lois Smith, Dianne Wiest, Ron Livingston,
Produc.: Monsterfoot Productions, Scott Sanders Productions, Walt Disney Pictures
Budget: $25 million approx.
In
The odd life of Timothy Green, Cindy (Jennifer Garner) and Jim (Joel Edgerton)
can not be parents, by their own means. Then, one night, they buried a box in
their house´s garden, with written inside, all the desires they would like to
see fulfilled in their own child. That same night they witness a miraculous
result, in the form of small Timothy (CJ Adams).
Only
as a curiosity, those who, more or less closely, follow Jennifer Garner´s
filmography, may have noticed that this is the second time in five years, in
which she plays a woman who can not have children. Her previous role had been
in Juno (2007), as the minor character of Vanessa Loring, who waited for the
baby of a teenage girl.
Jim
and Cindy Green are of those couples, for whom, to be parents would be the
icing on the cake. To have built the, dreamed of family.
The
thing is that while for some, children come to them as easily as colds, others,
such as the Greens, see the time go by without anything happening. It is then,
when doctors have given up, that they go back to their home, where they muy
settle with being the only ones under their roof.
On
this particular night, and not having now, nothing to lose, Jim decides to play
that together describe the perfect son, while they take note of each of his
fictitious, enormous qualities, in some notepad´s sheets of paper. To, for a
moment, fantasize, letting themselves to be carried away, and adding him, every
time more attributes, to someone who is one hundred percent invented. Then, they
go out in the dark to bury those qualities in a box in the garden.
Both
of them are sleeping when the wind gets up, and an unusual rain is unleashed on
their ground. Soon, this ceases, but having left for them a very special gift.
Someone
suddenly appears in the bed, next to Jim, but disappears as quickly as it came,
leaving dirty ground. Immediately, Cindy and Jim are set to find the intruder.
Thus, they end up finding a boy of about ten years old, covered in mud, and who
they do not know where he came from. Mystery they solve right away, when
looking out a window. A hole with the little boy´s dimensions reveals in the
same point where they had buried the box before.
To
make the event even more surprising, the child has green leaves attached to his
legs.
Chances
are that, for many, this whole sequence will contain an exciting magic. With a
couple that began disconsolate; who later, started to play, to forget their
pain; and which ended up being touched by divine hands. And I do not doubt for
that to had been Peter Hedge’s goal. Yet, I find that, although a fantastic
story, it would have been interesting to tie some loose ends before continuing,
to give greater strength to the events to come. Details such as, that it takes
so little for the couple to convinced themselves that the child came out of the
ground, and that, moreover, it is their son, do not help to that cause. Or
that, when discovering that he has got leaves on his feet, they do not think he
can be part of a joke, is not very credible. Anyone could think that they were
very naive.
After
receiving a warm bath and introducing himself as Timothy, a child who feels no
fear or shame immediately calls them "dad" and "mom".
Something that, neither oh the two has trouble getting used to.
Already,
the next morning, the Greens make to know their new member at a meeting with
family and friends, where they both assume, too soon, the role of parents,
which is not believable. As if they have known Timothy forever and not for just
a few hours.
From
now on, mother and father will endeavor for every day to be worthy. They will
try to convey their love and teachings, as if the kid were ordinary, and
forgetting a greater detail: Timothy was not born in a belly.
This
heaven-sent, helps the couple, not only to fulfill their desire of parenting,
but that, in a very short term they can commit mistakes from that position, to
learn from them. Timothy even helps them to confront their own demons, as they
never before, have had the courage.
But
not everything that glitters is gold. And Timothy´s green leaves also begin to
wilt.
Something
that is never quite convincing is, for what, exactly, is that the child comes
to them. If the couple was then going to want to adopt, it would have been enough
for them to be responsible and sincere adults, with no terminal illnesses,
psychological or financial problems, for the procedures to succeed.
The
entire film is told in a flashback, as the couple tells their story with
Timothy, to Evette Onat (Shohreh Aghdashloo), the supervisor. Here, obviously,
what we have is a duo that craves empathy and understanding. However, Onat
proves to be a sensible veteran, with no time for jokers. She can only be
convinced with facts expressing truths, not with children born between
plants. They could have told her, for example, that he had been brought by the
stork, and, so what? Should we understand she was supose to believe them, just
by seeing their anguished faces?
At
this point, Hedges ultimately choose an ending that has got holes, but that is
happy and makes us smile. Let’s recall that his contract was with Disney, and
the film, for adults and for kids.
My rating: 4/10
