James Whitman (Lucas Jade Zumann), a teenager who prefers an everyday wardrobe of button-down shirts and suspenders, is huge with another Whitman: Walt. When he wakes up in the morning he recites: “I am easy! I am the truth! I am maybe! I am youth! “- his stab in a” Leaves of Grass “style song by himself.
This is the only real poetry as it is that was invented under the title “Sad Poet”. (Dr. Bird is an imaginary therapist in the shape of a dove.) For James, figuring out social relationships, especially with the opposite sex, and negotiating family problems, of which he has abundant, takes more time than writing. And because James suffers from depression and anxiety, those emotional concerns are tougher for him than for other teens.
That sounds familiar to me and it is. But “Dr. Bird’s Advice to Sad Poets, ”written and directed by Yaniv Raz from a novel by Evan Roskos, aims to highlight its everyday elements through a lot of filmmaking.
As he chases a potential new girlfriend, Sophie (Taylor Russell), and searches for his runaway older sister, we see how James sees or wants to see. A girl’s iris is overlaid with images of daisies. The incarnation of Walt Whitman appears in sepia-colored fantasy sequences. James and Sophie’s dates turn into a French-style black and white romance or a colorful dance number.
The film is so drunk with its stylistic inclinations (and uncomfortable attempts at brain comedy) that it is too little, too late when it sobs to take James’ sanity seriously. And it’s a shame, because only in the last quarter will viewers appreciate the reach of the film’s appealing leading actors.
Dr. Birds advice to sad poets
Rated R for language, topics, sexuality. Running time: 1 hour 50 minutes. Rent or buy from Amazon, Google Play and other streaming platforms and pay-TV operators.
