
'A Kid like Jake' opens with sunlit, close-up shots of an ordinary upper middle class New York family. The mother Alex (Claire Danes) is playing with her son in the bathtub (whom we can barely see in the frame), while the father Greg (Jim Parsons) is packing lunch. As viewers we land softly into this microcosm of a world, built up quickly but carefully with a few small details. What follows is an engaging watch about the frailties of human relationships, romantic or otherwise, and the obstacles to acceptance even in progressive times.
Based on a play by Daniel Pearle about a child experiencing gender dysphoria, most of the film is played out in closed spaces and long scenes of conversation. Despite this talk-heaviness, director Silas Howard manages to bring a light touch to the proceedings. Although the source of all the drama is the young child and his impending admission to school, he is barely ever seen on screen, so that the focus remains firmly on how adults are reacting to him. This deliberate approach also makes a subtle point: often the people society thinks of as "wrong" have no trouble being themselves until the world points it out to them.
'A Kid like Jake' is, above all, a deeply humanist look at the relationship between the two parents. Claire Danes puts in a terrific, earnest performance as a mother riddled with anxieties that she keeps from bringing to the surface. Jim Parsons plays the relatively more self-possessed psychologist with a subtlety I did not expect. Octavia Spencer brings warmth and wisdom to the third main character Judy, who helps Alex and Greg come to terms with the reality of their child. A subplot involving one of Greg's patients who is going through a divorce provides a striking parallel to the fraying of the bond between the couple as the film progresses. When the tension between them finally blows up we get a brutal yet compassionate look at what fights between married couples are like in a way that would put the more acclaimed 'Marriage Story' to shame. All in all, a gem of a film that foregrounds relationship against a larger theme of diversity and acceptance, packed with psychological insight. Worth a watch. Genre: Drama
Language: English
Runtime: 1h 32min
Year of release: 2018
Streaming Platform: Netflix
Hot take is a series in which I offer my first impressions of films from India and around the world.
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