THUMBSUCKER directed by Mike Mills (2005).
Is this a thumb I see before me?
Having thoroughly enjoyed the movie Beginners, I wanted to see Mike Mills’ debut for my own compare and contrast motives.
The thumb sucker of the title is a bright but painfully shy teenager named Justin Cobb (Lou Taylor Pucci). After a series of mishaps, the school authorities diagnose him as suffering from attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and Justin starts taking the drug Ritalin.
Under this stimulation/medication he is able to read Moby Dick straight through and become a prize-winning member of the school’s debating class. The problem is that this also turns him into a precocious smart-ass so that a teacher who starts by being enthusiastic and supportive and ends by concluding “In my professional opinion you’ve become a monster”. Continue reading
