Death of a Superhero

Director: Ian Fitzgibbon
Writer: Anthony McCarten
Starring: Thomas Sangster, Aisling Loftus
Release Date: TBA
Length: 1 hour 38 minutes

    British actor Thomas Sangster is the guy (or boy) we know best for playing the lovestruck eleven-year-old kid of Liam Neeson in 2004’s romantic comedy Love Actually. We recognized him a year later in Emma Thompson’s Nanny McPhee and most recently as a young Paul McCartney in last year’s Lennon bio-pic Nowhere Boy. Now, he takes quite a different turn in completely carrying his new film, Death of A Superhero. He plays Donald Clarke, a fifteen-year-old terminal cancer patient, who draws stories of an unstoppable superhero to distract him from his inevitable mortality. Light stuff, I know.

    Donald lives in Dublin, Ireland, with his loving parents James and Renata, who are trying everything they can to find a way out of this unavoidable situation. He has a group of friends at school, but that does not change the fact that Donald keeps to himself and is still an outcast to everyone else.

    His situation becomes less depressing when two new people arrive in his life. His parents hire an expensive talked about therapist named Dr. Adrian King (Andy Serkis) who is intrigued by Donald. While attending odd and at first pointless meetings with Adrian, Donald takes an interest in the outspoken new girl at school Shelly (Aisling Loftus). Without necessarily making him happier, these unexpected new relationships put a different light on Donald’s tragic circumstances that has up until now been a pure boat of depression. He leans toward figuring out a way to be more welcoming to the end he knows is coming.

   Once you decide whether you can get through the frank fact that Donald is dying, it is up to you whether this is still a good film. For me, I still had to put aside the fact that I have seen the cancer love story in at least a dozen other films and especially where the patient is a teen, in films like A Walk To Remember, My Sister’s Keeper, etc…However, putting that all aside, you are left with a film that will mostly satisfy you with the fantastic performances from the diverse cast.

   Anthony McCarten’s script (adapted from his award winning novel) sincerely delves into the stressful teenage state of growing up that creates commendable authenticity in the film. However, it is in fact Donald’s plot of battling cancer that takes away from the overall enjoyment in the film. There is nothing with slow-moving scenes or even a slow-moving film, but if you are not completely hooked by what is in front of you, you are simply exhausted. That is the case for many of Donald’s scenes dealing with his quite overpowering disease, especially when he deals with his attitude toward it near the end.

   Nevertheless, you are easily swept up by the gradual sweet and clever romance between Donald and Shelly and Donald’s relentless love and support from his parents. Like I said before, it is the terrific cast that reigns over the film, lead by child turned adult actor Thomas Sangster. He is simply outstanding as the obviously conflicted and incredibly dark Donald. When we see Donald begin to like Shelly, Sangster shows us a different side to him, and it is not necessarily one that is “opening up”. Sangster merely portrays Donald as a teenager during his scenes with Shelly, in comparison to a terminal patient. This is vitally important because his performance does not create a distinction of happiness versus depression, but of oddity versus regularity.

   Aisling Loftus is oddly enchanting as Donald’s love interest Shelly, whose own background keeps her independent and hard for Donald to catch. Michael McElhatton and Sharon Horgan are surprisingly very funny and simultaneously heartbreaking as Donald’s parents, and Andy Serkis, who we know better for playing our favourite creatures, Gollum and King Kong, gives a great intriguing performance as Donald’s therapist, as well.

   The cast is simply what makes or breaks your experience of the film. If they are enough for you, you can easily enjoy yourself, however if not, the sheer depressing premise of the film, or the fact that you have seen it a million times before, may leave you in annoyed unhappiness. Personally, I simply did not need the unnecessary dose of a depressing cancer movie, especially after having seen 50/50, a film that perfectly pulls you in while still leaving you happy. Death of A Superhero, although filled with great performances, was definitely a disappointment out of this year’s Toronto International Film Festival. If it even comes to North American theatres, you might want to think twice before spending your money on it.