ADAM - New movie about someone with asperger's

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Moose1132
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26 Jan 2010, 2:23 pm

I just watched this last night and I can't really decide what to think exactly. At times, I felt like I was watching myself, but at other times I was shocked by how over the top Adam got. Although to be fair, I don't think I've ever met any other aspies in real life myself.

SPOILERS BELOW....



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In the end, I kind of feel like they gave the message that Aspies are incapable of loving and only care about themselves. Horrible message to send and it really pissed me off. You could say the whole thing helped change Adam, but after reading some reviews of the movie by normal people at other sites, that's not something anyone seemed to think or catch on to. So even if they had good intentions, they did an awful job executing them.



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26 Jan 2010, 7:54 pm

I saw it last night as well and i can`t say i`m too happy with it. Not that it`s inaccurate as such, and the actors i think do a really good job. The problem i see is mainly that people who don`t know much about AS might use this as template, the fact that AS people differ from each other almost as much as NT is completely unobvious judging from the film. And some of the more memorable scenes, for example when he snaps and starts throwing things around, can really be scary thus sending the wrong message. There is also the part just before the ending where she asks him why she should go with him. The answer he gives was really hard to watch for me, and i can only imagine it would have been a lot harder for the more "normal" people. Completely unable to love or just unable to express? You`d probably have to identify with him quite strongly to accept a more positive option of the two; and even then neither is good (enough) in "normal" world.

All in all i don`t think it`ll help either side, apart from bringing up the AS topic by itself (maybe mentioning the famous aspies is a nice touch). NTs might get the wrong impression and become even more affraid of aspies, and for aspies i don`t think the story is as hopeful as one would like.



By the way, why do they call this film a comedy? There are hardly any funny scenes at all (or is it just me?).



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28 Jan 2010, 6:36 pm

The problem i see is mainly that people who don`t know much about AS might use this as template, the fact that AS people differ from each other almost as much as NT is completely unobvious judging from the film. And some of the more memorable scenes, for example when he snaps and starts throwing things around, can really be scary thus sending the wrong message.

Agreed, I would never spazzO out in front of a woman , actually I wouldn't even spazzO out period (now that I'm medicated) 30++ years to late. 8O Now I'm that AS male "dope" stereotype who's to mellow . I suppose it's better than been to uptight yes ? :)



earthmom
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02 Feb 2010, 6:31 pm

Yupa wrote:
Just from watching the preview, the character of Adam seems like a really nasty, creepy guy, and probably mentally ill (for reasons besides asperger's). He seems like someone I'd want to avoid at all costs in real life.

I don't know, to me I just get the impression of a film that plays up negative stereotypes for dramatic effect, showing asperger's as a crippling mental disability.


That was my first reaction to the trailer, I have to say.

I haven't seen it yet. Just bought the DVD from Amazon (it is available as of today) so we'll see....


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eeyore19
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06 Feb 2010, 4:05 pm

My wife and I rented Adam last weekend, and we were both a little bothered by the ending. I liked (and could relate to) the movie for the most part, but I found that Adam did a bit of explaining his behavior to the audience. My wife leaned over to me and said "a real Aspie wouldn't say that".

As for the ending, we found it to be a little pessimistic and discouraging. The message seems to be "don't waste your time attempting an AS/NT relationship". The message to the NT audience is "an Aspie won't love you back and won't be able to look you in the eye and you'll never know what they're thinking", which is nonsense. I love my wife and she's one of the only people that I can look in the eye. She knows I think the world of her, and she's been married to me long enough to have an idea of what I'm thinking and feeling in a given situation.

The message to the AS audience seems to be "a relationship with an NT is pointless because they will never understand you or have the patience to deal with your Asperger's". Again, that's so not true (for the same reasons as above).

"Adam" was a good movie, but it missed the mark at the end. It could have been a great movie. I'm looking forward to the day when there's a movie with a more positive outlook on AS/NT romances.


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07 Feb 2010, 10:33 am

eeyore19 wrote:
My wife and I rented Adam last weekend, and we were both a little bothered by the ending. I liked (and could relate to) the movie for the most part, but I found that Adam did a bit of explaining his behavior to the audience. My wife leaned over to me and said "a real Aspie wouldn't say that".

As for the ending, we found it to be a little pessimistic and discouraging. The message seems to be "don't waste your time attempting an AS/NT relationship". The message to the NT audience is "an Aspie won't love you back and won't be able to look you in the eye and you'll never know what they're thinking", which is nonsense. I love my wife and she's one of the only people that I can look in the eye. She knows I think the world of her, and she's been married to me long enough to have an idea of what I'm thinking and feeling in a given situation.

The message to the AS audience seems to be "a relationship with an NT is pointless because they will never understand you or have the patience to deal with your Asperger's". Again, that's so not true (for the same reasons as above).

"Adam" was a good movie, but it missed the mark at the end. It could have been a great movie. I'm looking forward to the day when there's a movie with a more positive outlook on AS/NT romances.


Couldn't agree more with that. The message the ending gives is crap.



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08 Feb 2010, 4:11 am

I saw it.

I really didn't like it. After watching the whole thing I have to say I still think the Adam character was creepy. The Beth character was also weird - I didn't particularly like either one of them.

Here's what I think about the ending - SPOILER ALERT - if you haven't seen this movie you probably shouldn't read this thread because those of us who saw it are going to talk about details you won't want revealed!

Okay - Adam did love her and did care about her and tried to express that. Frankly I thought he did a good job. I was surprised he was able to get that out. But she didn't get it. She thought he was just saying that he needed her - like he needed a maid or a mail carrier or a mover, etc. So her feelings were hurt that she didn't get more emotions out of him apparently and she said his reasons weren't good enough and she wouldn't go. Seems like she was feeling that he was just using her to make it easier on him to do the move and she didn't want to be used.

BUT then she writes this book and it has his name and features his raccoons that he shared with her and his exact words that he said to her in the park. So wasn't she just using him to get a book published???

Seems also like a relationship involves caring about each other and also some USING of the other person from time to time. You use them to help you for one thing or another. And you help them in return. But it seemed like the message was that she didn't want to be used by him so she just cut it off. But that didn't stop her from going ahead and using everything he gave her. :P

I think the girl, Beth, was alot like her crappy father. So Adam was much better off without her. Her loss.

The only scene that rang true for me was the meltdown and I cringed. I've lived that one. It was hard to watch.

All in all a pretty darn depressing movie.


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bruinsy33
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09 Feb 2012, 11:34 am

Vance wrote:
I enjoyed the movie on the whole, but found Adam as a character very hard to watch at times. Some scenes felt too much like going down a checklist of Aspergers traits and needlessly exaggerating them as much as possible, while a more subtle approach could've been much more effective for me. Most of the time I couldn't work out where Beth was finding the patience for dealing with him, or why she was attracted to him in the first place when he seemed to give so little back in their relationship. I did relate quite strongly to some parts, though - the bit where Beth is knocking on his door and he can't bring himself to answer was a painfully familiar scenario, and communicated well. And the ending was spot on, I think.

Was anyone else really distracted by Adam's way of avoiding eye contact throughout? Specifically the way he almost constantly stared straight ahead, with his eyes unfocused, rather than finding something in his surroundings to focus on. I avoid eye contact just as much, but when I do it I'm always looking at things around me and like to think I at least appear to be awake. Adam, on the other hand, seemed to behave as though he was dazed and completely blind most of the time, which made it hard to believe there was much going on in his head.
Adam's way of avoiding eye contact may have been distracting but it was realistic.I am exactly the same way,I am sure I have annoyed many people in my lifetime with this characteristic.



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09 Feb 2012, 11:50 am

I hadn't heard of this. I'm going to look and see if I can find it online, then I'll let you know what I think. I also didn't read the whole thread because I don't want to form an opinion first and then ruin the movie for myself.


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impulse94
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10 Feb 2012, 12:45 pm

Wonderful movie. Very eye-opening for me, especially since it made it very clear that "not everybody" (i.e. NTs) does those things or thinks in that way.



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11 Feb 2012, 10:56 am

I watched this film, and it was EXTRAORDINARY.


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11 Feb 2012, 3:20 pm

Extraordinary due to the excruciatingly-cliche rom com "plot",
or the inability of film directors to depict people with Asperger's as anything other caricatures of Autism?


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