Thumbsucking and Sniffing

I saw "Thumbsucker" yesterday and it's probably just as well that I knew NOTHING about it prior, because I think I would have liked it even less than I did. It's basically a "coming-of-age" type film with the lead character, 17 yr old Justin having to deal with his thumbsucking tendencies. That's not his problem though, as the major iss-ewe is that everyone else, including his family think he is wierd. He ends up being misdiagnosed with ADD, and given courses in Ritalin which miraculously and humorously transforms him into a high school debating wiz. There are several other twists and turns in this film, and I actually quite enjoyed the ending.

It's not a bad film by any means. But I felt disappointed for many reasons. One is the casting, which is pretty off-key in my opinion. It looks "impressive" - Tilda Swinton, Vincent D'onofrio, Vince Vaughn, Keanu Reeves and Benjamin Bratt, but I think the characters would have been more believable had they not cast relatively well-known actors. Tilda Swinton, as good an actress as she is, I find very hard to believe as a suburban american mom. She's too elegant! And I can't help imagining her as Orlando.....

It's a bit of a shame, because the parents are pretty interesting in this film. Usually their stories are ignored in coming-of-age type films, but I think it would have been more succesful if the director had cast unknowns.

Another thing I found really irritating, was the camera work in "Thumbsucker". Nearly every shot kinda floated across the screen, which I found really distracting and obvious. Don't know what the point was, but it really gave me the shits.

I also found the score to be really off-putting. Most of it was the Polyphonic Spree, and a bit of Eliot Smith. But I found it really grating at times.

Whilst thinking about the film this morning on the way to work, I was reminded of my own habit of sniffing when I was a wee fella. By that, I don't mean sniffing glue or chroming, but just this little habit I had for about a year of sniffing like my nose was dripping or something. Not that it was. I think I sniffed throughout the 4th grade, it would be happen every second or so! At the time I was totally unaware of this quirk, but it drove Mum insane. She would often ask if anyone I sat next to in Primary school complained about my sniffing. Of course, 8 yr old boys don't care, so my sniffing lasted for quite a while :)

At some point it stopped, but I don't even remember when or how. I wonder why it even began?