The movie version of “The Reason I Jump” does not, in other words, successfully illustrate what its title promises, but rather generalizes about a sensitive topic to the point of inadvertently making it seem more unapproachable.ĭirector Jerry Rothwell (“How to Change the World”) presents a distractingly aestheticized version of the sensory overload that autistic children experience.

Autistic children’s mundane experiences are too often reduced to sentimental, canned, and/or trite examples of how far neuro-atypical children and their loved ones have already come, and still hope to go. The film distills these elements into a sensually rich tapestry that leads us to Naoki’s core message: not being able to speak does not mean there is nothing to say.The movie version of “The Reason I Jump” often uses soundbite-friendly quotes from Higashida’s book as a conceptual clothesline in order to connect Higashida’s story with the experiences of five other autistic children, as well as their parents and David Mitchell, one of Higashida’s two translators (the other being K.A. CLICK HERE TO WATCH TRAILER 'As emotionally piercing as it is beautiful to behold' - Guy Lodge, Variety Moments in the lives of each of the characters are linked by the journey of a young Japanese boy through an epic landscape narrated passages from Naoki’s writing reflect on what his autism means to him and others, how his perception of the world differs, and why he acts in the way he does: the reason he jumps. This screening is presented in partnership with The Kent Autistic Trust. It opens a window for audiences into an intense and overwhelming, but often joyful, sensory universe. The film blends Higashida's revelatory insights into autism, written when he was just 13, with intimate portraits of five remarkable young people. FolkeFest: Folkestone Contemporary Folk Festivalīased on the best-selling book by Naoki Higashida, The Reason I Jump is an immersive cinematic exploration of neurodiversity through the experiences of nonspeaking autistic people from around the world.SALT + EARTH: Festival of Landscape, Seascape & The Environment.One of the UK’s most ambitious art exhibitions

UK’s largest urban exhibition of contemporary art

The reason i jump 2020