The Review: Simple Simon

Simple Simon 7/10

I watched this movie called Simple Simon with B&H starring Bill Skarsgård is what I would call a cute movie. It is about a kid with Asperger Syndrome and how his behavior impacts those that are close to him or attempt to get close to him. The original title is Irymden Finns Inga Känslor which means In Space There are No Feelings. That title is long but closely relates to how when Simon starts to freak the fuck out he will hide in this capsule and pretend that he is in space. He will not respond to his mother and father but will talk to his brother who pretends he is at mission control and will talk to Simon in English. One day Simon ends up moving in with his brother and his girlfriend. Simon is like a controlled tornado. He has everything he does measured out by quantity and time. If you touch him he will attack you like a girl on the street found out. The time before she bumped into him and he slapped her was less than a second. Simon and his ways ends up being too much for his brothers girlfriend after Simon is just standing in the bedroom while they are boning down complaining about the toilet paper being all gone. She leaves and Simon decides he will use science to get his brother a new girlfriend.

Simon works as a groundskeeper with a bunch of other misfits. One girl likes to set fires, another loves her and plays violin, and another laughs maniacally at the air. Simon sets out asking random women a series of questions and ends up setting up a date between his brother and the girl he bumped into. And by set up a date I mean having his brother kidnapped and left in a sack in the park for the girl to find him. Surprisingly this movie didn't play up his Asperger for yucks the way it tends to be handled in films. He lets people know he has it and not to touch him and that he likes things a very particular way. No one has to find out that he has it. This movie could have gone in a lot of different directions and managed to walk this fine line that many movies that cover mental images can not. The fact that he was able to recognize his issues helped and this wasn't something where people were attacking him constantly and reminding him that he was different. Like I said, cute movie.

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