The Story of Luke (2013)

Wonderful character development!

the audience applauded

Highly Overrated But Still Good

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Ladies, I'm going to give you a couple of scenarios, and you tell me if they sound realistic.Say you're in your late teens, early twenties. You're at your boyfriend's house, making out on the couch. His autistic cousin walks in on you. Boyfriend leaves the room. What do you do?You invite the autistic dude to sit down, move inappropriately close to him, and proceed to confuse and confound him with your teasingly seductive remarks, am I right?Or how about this. You're the stay-at-home mother of two young adults, with nothing better to do all day than get manicures and ruin dinner. Your neglectful husband adopts his autistic nephew and senile parent, expecting you to provide round-the-clock care and supervision for both of them. You quite unjustifiably behave like a raging bitch, dumping senile grandpa in a home, and emotionally abusing the nephew. But then you find that autistic nephew can cook! So you admit you are a raging bitch, he teaches you to cook, your husband pays attention to you again, and you all live happily ever after.Note to all ambitious writer/directors: if you are incapable of imagining a female character with a personality, nuanced motivation, complex emotions or an inner life, what in the world makes you think you can depict the experience of a non-neuro-typical person with anything approaching verisimilitude? What makes you think you have the right to try?

'The Story of Luke' is one of those movies that makes me happy to hand over my $7.99 to Netflix every month. I find movies similar to this on Netflix often, movies that never had financial success, or movies that just were not advertised properly. This hidden gem follows Luke, a high functioning Autistic young man who is trying to make a life for himself after receiving some advice from his grandfather who is slipping into senility.I think that any movie with a main character with a mental disability faces the challenge of not becoming the Lifetime movie of the week. The main character is less equipped to deal with the real world, and the odds are so stacked against them, and when they succeed it is so heart-warming, and we all cry…just a bit. Yuck! Luckily, Lou Taylor Pucci, the actor who plays Luke does a wonderful job of making his character, for lack of a better term, a smart ass. Whether he is critiquing his aunt's cooking, or just having a conversation at work, he has a slyness to him that lets you feel that no matter what, he is going to be alright.Seth Green makes an appearance in the movie, which is a nice surprise. He plays Luke's computer nerd, conspiracy theorist, geeky boss, who has a mental disability himself, although he hides it very well. As the movie unfolds he sort of finds a place as Luke's sidekick, although he thinks he is in charge. Together, they tackle life and Luke strives to achieve his simple goals, and I am glad they bring me along for the ride.I wouldn't say that I finished this movie feeling inspired, maybe more so humbled. 'The Story of Luke' does a great job conveying that the hardships of an autistic person don't seem much more frightening than those of anyone searching for happiness. New things can be intimidating, and everyone is scared of straying away from the routine of which they have become accustomed, and we soon all find out that trying is much more difficult than failing.

I am awash in a family of people with ADD and ADHD, as the Seth Green character was. Autistic people intrigue me, because we are supposedly somewhere on that spectrum. I was a gifted child and software engineer for 35 years, and still have no filter. So this movie taught me a little about 'being normal', something I've always wondered about. I needed Seth Green to explain to me how to be or ape being neurologically normal: to pretend interest when you aren't, to look into someone's eyes but not too long so as not to appear weird, to use stupid" small talk to buffer the conversation, etc, etc. I never knew any of this stuff. Had I learned to be tactful, to couch my true feelings in the little white lies of which society is made, then maybe I wouldn't have had 3 husbands and 3 divorces. This movie is essential watching for people like me, male or female. Your heart bleeds, as you realize 'normalcy' with its hypocrisies and cruelties will never be his. His pitiful rotten mom will perhaps never be able to be anywhere near his mother . But his aunt sure turned herself around and I really loved that part. So much of what is insightful about this movies revolves around Luke's blatant honesty, his utter guilelessness. I think so much of this screenplay must have been written by someone who knew intimately an autistic person. Will my grandson ever be able to stay married, have a 'normal' adulthood, whatever that is? Will Adderall/methyl phenydrate and these other horrid drugs be what his life will comprise? God, I hope not, but movies like this kinda help us learn to ape whatever it is we need to get along in the workaday world. Wanna make a lot of money? Become a socialization coach for people like Luke and myself. Daddy took Dale Carnegies courses to help him; autistic folks should be able to have similar training. The support he got from this great, non perfect family of his thrilled me What a movie!!!! And who the Hell wants to be normal, anyhow?

Abandoned by his mother at a young age, and dropped off at his grandparents, Luke (Lou Taylor Pucci) is just like any other young man. He enjoys watching television, and is very good at certain hobbies. His aunt is eventually jealous of how just how good of a cook Luke is. Luke dreams of one day working a job, and living on his own. Just like any other young man, he also really wants to screw. But the difference is, Luke is still quite unsure what screwing means exactly.The Story of Luke is unique to what you may expect from a comedy style, coming of age, tale. It is not about someone living through teenage years, or early twenties that keeps messing up, looking for mates to screw or generally making poor choices. Instead, it takes focus on a person who the world expects nothing from. Luke does not believe this is the case however, as he feels he does have an impact to make on the world, and just wants to be like everyone else.The struggle of this young man to find a job, be able to live on his own, and to screw is going to be a lot more challenging for him. How so? Luke has autism. When his grandmother dies, and his grandfather (Kenneth Walsh) is eventually put in a home, Luke is forced to move in with his relatives Paul (Carry Elwes) and Cindy (Kristen Bauer). Before his grandfather passes away, he gives Luke some inspirational words of advice.Get a job, live on your own, and screw. This sets Luke on a journey into becoming a proper man, boosting his confidence and being able to feel comfortable in his own skin. When he does find a job, you'll be introduced to his supervisor, played by Seth Green. You'll witness his first crush on a receptionist, played by Sabryn Rock. You'll even witness Luke muster up enough strength to come face to face with his mother for the first time in years.This film was finished and over before I even knew it. I was so lost and invested into his journey that it left me wanting more. With that said, those words can mean either a positive or negative thing for a movie. The negative would be that the film did not deliver enough, and left it without a proper conclusion. On the contrary, the positive would be that the film was so good that you just did not it to be over. The Story of Luke was entertaining from beginning to end, and falls into the positive version of wanting more.However, the ending may not satisfy everyone. It was realistic and far from fairy tale, but not unfulfilled. His journey was worth the ride, and it still concluded on a strong note. Many critics called this heart warming, and I am inclined to agree with them. It made you care about Luke. I actually cringed and felt bad when people said crude words to our struggling protagonist.The acting was exceptional. Lou Taylor Pucci did his homework, and conducted himself in a manner a person with Autism would. I have a cousin who has it, and I witnessed a few similar, and key traits. It is no surprise that he was both nominated and won awards for this role. Seth Green is entertaining in his role, and so is Luke's family. No one brought this down with bad delivery of the greatly written dialogue, and everyone put significant effort into it.The comedy elements in this film worked. It is respective, and does not make Autism a laughing stock in any way. The humour is well placed, and you'll be laughing with Luke, not at him. If you are in the mood for a character-driven, feel-good, film with immensely talented actors or actresses, look no further. Director Alonso Mayo worked with people suffering from Autism and Asperger Syndrome, and he used his knowledge to construct a powerful and motivating film that deserves your attention.Watch it ASAP