The Peanut Butter Falcon

[StevePulaski]

The Peanut Butter Falcon (2019)
Directed by: Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz

Rating: ★★★

The Peanut Butter Falcon is the kind of wholesome feature that doesn't get old, especially when its themes of agency and individuality are given room to breathe.

The film revolves around Zak, played by first-time actor Zack Gottsagen, a 22-year-old with Down Syndrome, who was abandoned by his family. He is relegated to living in a nursing home in rural North Carolina, since the state has no other facilities to adequately support him. He's cared for by Eleanor (Dakota Johnson), a kind-hearted social worker, and spends his days watching old wrestling videos featuring his idol, "The Saltwater Redneck." With the help of his roommate (Bruce Dern in a brief but utterly sweet scene), Zak escapes the nursing home en route to his favorite wrestler's personal training school.

Zak is tighty-white clad as he sprints through the streets, finally stopping to rest in a boat that belongs to Tyler (Shia LaBeouf), who is on the lamb from both law enforcement and crab-trappers whose equipment he set fire to in the past. Tyler finds Zak on the boat, initially dismisses him, but changes his tune after seeing Zak bullied into jumping into the lake by another kid despite his insistence that he cannot swim. Tyler agrees to let Zak accompany him, and eventually, commits to getting him to the Redneck's wrestling school, but not before laying a set of ground-rules. The first rule? Don't slow Tyler down, which he tries to make clear to Zak from the jump. "What's the first rule again?," Tyler asks shortly after outlining them. "Party!," Zak says enthusiastically.

The charm both LaBeouf and Gottsagen bring is warm, if grungy. The two actors have faced limitations in their lives, with LaBeouf's well-documented scandals and Gottsagen's condition, so both bring a rare breed of rawness to their roles that grants this familiarly mismatched duo trope a degree of authenticity. The contrasts in personalities helps too; Zak is rugged and cynical, while Zak is infectiously optimistic, more-so when he finds a companion to get him to the wrestling school. Along the way, Eleanor, whose ass is on the line when Zak goes missing, catches up to the duo, and the addition of a straight-woman into their quest threatens their fun, if only momentarily.

At the helm are first-time directors Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz, who work with cinematographer Nigel Bluck to give the film a pleasantly acid-washed look. The film is peppered with beautiful wide-shots that show rustic backroads and empty beaches that provide the brand of ruggedness that has come to define Tyler, while sunlit and bright as if to reflect the radiance of Zak.

If there's a drawback, it's Nilson and Schwartz's desire to hamfist a romantic subplot in the story when there doesn't need to be one. If there's a consolation to that, however, its inclusion doesn't limit the underlying significance of the story. When Eleanor finally catches up to Zak and finds him with a man as suspicious as Tyler, she's understandably concerned, yet reverts to her crutch of trying to control Zak and remove his agency. Although she's doing it out of concern, her instincts tell her to override Zak's spoken desires, such as him repeatedly stating he isn't hungry despite her insisting he eat. The lovely aspect of Tyler's relationship with Zak is how he completely looks past his condition and treats him as he would anyone else, allowing him a voice; something he likely hasn't had since he was little. The textured interpersonal relationships in The Peanut Butter Falcon make some of the narrative predictabilities more forgivable. Dare I say too, they ultimately lead to a climax I'd call quietly magical.

From the swampy locales to the deeply human performances by the cast, it's a lovely feeling to see a film like The Peanut Butter Falcon, perhaps above all because it's not a film about a character with a disability. It simply features a disabled actor and, like Tyler and Zak, keeps on walking, eventually arriving at a heartwarming conclusion with gobs of compassion throughout the journey.

Starring: Shia LaBeouf, Zack Gottsagen, Dakota Johnson, Thomas Haden Church, John Hawkes, Jon Bernthal, and Bruce Dern. Directed by: Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz.