Whole New Thing

There is a useful directness to Whole New Thing, a comedy shaped by Amnon Buchbinder with a firm understanding of its audience. In Whole New Thing, Aaron Webber provides the anchor while Robert Joy introduces a contrasting energy. Without revealing later complications, Whole New Thing opens from this situation: After years of being home schooled by hippie parents, Emerson is enrolled at his local high school. The resulting its 1h 32m running time feels most convincing whenever Whole New Thing trusts behaviour more than explanation.

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The most useful technical choice in Whole New Thing is comic timing built around character, because it helps the audience understand both space and mood. Acuity Pictures Production frames Whole New Thing through comic timing built around character without letting surface finish replace character. Drawing on its Canada background, Whole New Thing uses well judged reactions to give familiar material a more specific texture. Cinematography, sound and editing meet effectively in Whole New Thing whenever a sequence must feel large without losing its human scale.

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Whole New Thing finds additional purpose in its examination of embarrassment, status and the gap between confidence and reality. Through the performance of Aaron Webber, Whole New Thing makes that examination feel personal before it becomes broadly symbolic. The idea of Emerson repeatedly returns Whole New Thing to the cost behind its more visible developments. Amnon Buchbinder is most persuasive when Whole New Thing allows the theme to emerge from an uncomfortable choice rather than polished dialogue.

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Aaron Webber gives Whole New Thing its most dependable performance, finding a clear emotional intention beneath the plot. Opposite Aaron Webber, Robert Joy brings Whole New Thing a contrasting pace that prevents the central relationship from feeling flat. Rebecca Jenkins widens the ensemble of Whole New Thing through reactions that suggest a life beyond the immediate scene. Amnon Buchbinder serves the cast of Whole New Thing best when a look or pause is allowed to finish before the story moves on.

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Amnon Buchbinder gives Whole New Thing a directorial line that is alive in individual scenes and uncertain between them from its opening promise to its final movement. The staging of Whole New Thing is strongest when Amnon Buchbinder allows motivation to determine pace instead of reversing that priority. Viewed as a complete piece, Whole New Thing confirms that the cast and craft keep the experience watchable across most of the running time. A tighter version of Whole New Thing would address how too many scenes explain effects the actors have already suggested, yet the surrounding work remains persuasive.

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The plot of Whole New Thing is built around the uneasy relationship between Emerson and English. For Aaron Webber, that relationship gives Whole New Thing an emotional objective stronger than simple forward motion. The screenplay associated with Amnon Buchbinder lets the central character reshape the direction of Whole New Thing in stages. Although the treatment of an important relationship could be sharper, Whole New Thing never entirely loses the thread established at the beginning.

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Overall, Whole New Thing amounts to an uneven film with enough personality to remain interesting and should suit comedy fans who respond to personality and timing. The combination of Aaron Webber, Amnon Buchbinder and comic timing built around character gives Whole New Thing a specific identity. Although too many scenes explain effects the actors have already suggested in Whole New Thing, the film recovers through craft and committed performance. For the audience it understands, Whole New Thing offers enough character to remain worthwhile after the immediate plot has faded.