The Peanut Butter Falcon

First-time writer/directors Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz vowed to create a vehicle for Zack Gottsagen (who has Down's syndrome) after meeting him at a camp for disabled actors. And in this latter-day variation on Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, they consistently play to Gottsagen's strengths as Zak, a young man who escapes from his residential home in North Carolina in the hope of following in the footsteps of his wrestling hero, Salt Water Redneck (Thomas Haden Church). He finds a reluctant travelling companion-cum-protector in Tyler (Shia LaBeouf), a resourceful rascal seeking to evade the clutches of crab fisherman Duncan (John Hawkes) after stealing his catch. The whimsy lapses into sentimentality in places, and Dakota Johnson is sold somewhat short as Zak's compassionate carer. But her rapport with Gottsagen is as effective as LaBeouf's, while Nigel Bluck's widescreen waterscapes are sublime.