Whole New Thing

Running time: 92 mins

Whole New Thing is the delightfully unconventional story of one rather exceptional thirteen-year-old boy. Nothing is simple for Emerson is anymore. Unlike most boys his age, he is clever, well-adjusted and can hold his own in conversation with most adults.

Home schooled by his eco-hippie parents, he has been raised in a household of casual nudity and openness about sex. But when his poor math skills force him into the local school, the change for Emerson?as well as those around him?proves to be seismic.

His fellow students treat new arrival Emerson?s maturity and intellectual curiosity with suspicion. However, his teachers, in particular his English teacher Mr. Grant, are delighted. Impressed with his new pupil, Don even sees a bit of his younger self in the precocious Emerson. When Emerson develops a crush on Don, however, it will challenge everything the man thinks he knows about being a teacher and a role model.

Smart, funny and poignant, Amnon Buchbinder?s Whole New Thing is a charming look at the ability of an extraordinary kid to embrace his life and his emotions with abandon. Aaron Webber wonderfully captures the conflicted Emerson, torn between boyish feelings and adult concerns. Racing toward maturity, Emerson must discover that he is still a child, while the adults around him realize they need to grow up.

Excerpts from the Toronto Film Festival catalog.

Preceded by: Blindsight; dir. Bryon Cunningham; 9min.; A man faces a series of bizarre encounters that make him question his memory, his sanity, and even his own identity.

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