Scott Hicks directs Anthony Hopkins, Anton Yelchin and Hope Davis in this Sixties set coming-of-age drama where a fatherless boy bonds with a fugitive psychic who moves into the apartment above him.

Featuring an outstanding early child performance from Yelchin and one of Hopkins less hammy turns, this is a pleasing re-run of Stephen King’s preferred themes, imagery and emotions. Sure, you could watch the superior Stand By Me or IT or The Shawshank Redemption again but this gently spools out everything those classics did perfectly in a neat, heartwarming compilation package. The non-horror King project this seemingly shares the most DNA with though is 11.22.63… ominous men in hats, time displacement, unavoidable fate and Kennedy era nostalgia. It might not reinvent the wheel but it is a nice little film to get lost in and the characters have a rounded complexity that often gets left out in most page to screen adaptations.

7

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