A 10 year old gifted boy wants to be a jazz pianist much to the chagrin of his more classical oriented piano instructor. With his mother's help, he is an underage regular at a local nightspot, where he is teamed up with a sax superstar. Both come to learn that each suffers from Tourette's Syndrome (thus the film title). The older man has developed mannerisms to cover up his own fallibilities and resents the boy and his mother's acceptance of the disease.
Acting
Hines smolders with controlled rage; Marquette is heartbreaking.
Score
Live jazz sessions that bleed raw emotion.
Writing
Draper's script refuses easy disability narratives.
Director
Gary Winick
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Polly Draper wrote the script based on her own son Nat Wolff's experience with Tourette's; the family later created Nickelodeon's 'The Naked Brothers Band.'
This was Gary Winick's directorial debut before he pivoted to '13 Going on 30' and 'Charlotte's Web'—wild career trajectory.
US
