Saturday at the Movies: White Frog (2012)

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Every Saturday night on WrongPlanet.net, a discussion will ensue about a selected autism-related film. Please, take care to avoid spoilers (or, at least, flag them) to prevent potential viewers from learning too much about the story in advance of their viewing. Tonight’s selected film is:

White Frog (93 minutes), a 2012 American drama film written by Ellie Wen and Fabienne Wen, and directed by Quentin Lee. Younger brother Nick (Booboo Stewart), who has Asperger syndrome, struggles to cope and understand after the death of his brother Chaz (Harry Shum Jr.). Wanting to portray themselves as the perfect family, his parents are in denial about several things, and are not communicating or dealing well with the loss, but then Chaz’s best friend, Randy, decides to become a mentor to Nick. The DVD version of the film was released in 2012. Scenes from the film are available for viewing on YouTube under the search term White Frog.

Neglected high-school freshman Nick finds his struggle with Asperger syndrome complicated by a family tragedy that throws his life out of balance in this sensitive coming-of-age drama.

If you have viewed this film, what are your opinions about it?

It was an OK movie, but it felt a little flat to me. It was so formulaic that I only kept watching because Booboo is so cute.

I give it 3 Aspergers out of 5.

Yes to all concerns ... except Booboo Stewart's portrayal of the lead character was quite good. While the other actors seemed to revolve around Stewart's point of view, his character seemed quite real and subtle to me. Too many other actors overplay their autistic characters.

Yes, his acting was the best part of the movie, though I couldn't help liking Joan Chen (the mother). She's a great actress, but her role was so small. Too bad they didn't put in more character development for the supporting roles.