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SPOTLIGHT FILMS: The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet Trailer

Larry Hudema
By Larry Hudema
May 24th, 2015

On Tuesday May 26 Spotlight Films will be presenting the French/Australian/Canadian collaboration The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet.

This film, directed by Jean Pierre Jeunet, (directed Amelie) who also co-wrote the screenplay with Guillame Laurant is based on the novel by Rief Larson, “The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet”.

T.S. Spivet (Kyle Catlett, Poltergeist 2015) lives on a ranch in Montana with his mother, Dr. Clair, (Helena Carter, Fight Club, The King’s Speech) who is obsessed with the morphology of beetles, his father (a cowboy born a hundred years too late), (Callum Keith Rennie, Fifty Shades of Grey) and his 14 year-old sister, Gracie (Niamh Wilson,  tv series, Degrassi) who dreams of becoming Miss America. T.S. is a 10 year-old prodigy with a passion for cartography and scientific inventions. One day he receives an unexpected call from the Smithsonian museum telling him that he is the winner of the very prestigious Baird prize for his discovery of the perpetual motion machine and that he is invited to a reception in his honour where he is expected to give a speech. Without telling anyone he sets out on a journey across the U.S.A. to reach Washington DC. There is also Layton, Jakob Davies (Supernatural, Once Upon A Time), twin brother of T.S., who died in an accident involving a firearm in the family’s barn, an incident of which no one ever speaks. T.S. was with him, measuring the scale of the gunshots for an experiment, and he doesn’t understand what happened. 

Janet Smith of the Georgia Straight says: “From the minute an elaborate Old West pop-up book announces the beginning of The Young and Prodigious T. S. Spivet, the visual splendour rarely ceases.”

Not only are the Smithsonians unsuspecting of the inventor’s tender age; they also unaware of his dark secret.

This film has been the recipient of four awards, including Best Cinematography at the Cesars and Best 3D, Camerimage. It was also nominated for four others.

The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet will be shown at 7 pm at the Gem theatre.

Spotlight Films would like to thank Maureen and Marius Paquet of the Gem Theatre and our patrons and sponsors. Thanks also to Internet Movie Database (IMDB), Rotten Tomatoes, and Janet Smith of the Georgia Straight.