A young man with Down syndrome runs away from his care
home to pursue his dream of becoming a professional wrestler. DRAMA
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The Peanut Butter Falcon (2019)Written and Directed by Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz
Starring Zack Gottsagen, Shia LaBeouf, Dakota Johnson, John Hawkes, Thomas Haden Church, Bruce Dern |
The Peanut Butter Falcon is the first feature length film for Nilson and Schwartz. They’ve always worked as a team and finally, we get a film that surely won’t be their last. The Peanut Butter Falcon is a story about two men on the run for very different reasons. It’s sort of a modern retelling of Huckleberry Finn. The two men running are Zak (Gottsagen) and Tyler (LaBeouf). Zak is a 22 year old with Down syndrome who dreams of becoming a pro wrestler and Tyler is a 30 something year old who works on the water for a living. Their paths cross under crazy circumstances and then they are off!
The supporting cast does a wonderful job. It’s really cool to see guys like Bruce Dern take a backseat and just do their part in a film. That’s when you know everyone believes in the story that’s being told. Shia continues to raise the bar with under the radar roles that have stacked up quite nicely over time. I just wrote a review for American Honey and said that his role in that is my favorite of his, but I think I changed my mind today. As far as I’m concerned, Shia has been on fire for the past 7 years. Gottsagen actually has Down syndrome and he met Nilson and Schwartz at a camp for disabled actors. The three of them decided that they should create something together and we got The Peanut Butter Falcon out of it. This is simply a must see for everyone, and I can’t wait to see what’s next for Nilson and Schwartz. |