A couple use their boy’s love of Disney dress-up to get him into a private pre-school in a film that fails to do its premise justice
A Kid Like Jake is an earnestly intended, seriously acted film, painful in various intentional and unintentional ways. It is by the TV veteran Silas Howard, who was the first trans director of the show Transparent, and adapted by Daniel Pearle from his own award-winning stage-play. But it’s a film that strenuously avoids its own potential for satire or humour, averting its gaze from the #firstworldproblems issue. Claire Danes and Jim Parsons play Alex and Greg, a well-to-do New York couple: she’s a former lawyer turned stay-at-home mom and he’s a therapist. They have a bright, imaginative four-year-old, Jake (Leo James Davis), and like many parents in their milieu, they have allowed themselves to get obsessed with getting Jake into an exclusive private pre-school.
A Kid Like Jake is an earnestly intended, seriously acted film, painful in various intentional and unintentional ways. It is by the TV veteran Silas Howard, who was the first trans director of the show Transparent, and adapted by Daniel Pearle from his own award-winning stage-play. But it’s a film that strenuously avoids its own potential for satire or humour, averting its gaze from the #firstworldproblems issue. Claire Danes and Jim Parsons play Alex and Greg, a well-to-do New York couple: she’s a former lawyer turned stay-at-home mom and he’s a therapist. They have a bright, imaginative four-year-old, Jake (Leo James Davis), and like many parents in their milieu, they have allowed themselves to get obsessed with getting Jake into an exclusive private pre-school.
- 9/2/2020
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Two Sundance alums, Hearts Beat Loud and Won’t You Be My Neighbor? bonded nicely with audiences in limited release over the weekend, beginning their theatrical runs with solid numbers.
Brett Haley’s Hearts posted the higher per-theater average, debuting in four locations Friday, grossing $74,053 for an average of $18,513. Morgan Neville’s Fred Rogers documentary Won’t You Be My Neighbor? launched over the weekend in more than two dozen theaters, however, grossing $470K for a friendly $16,168 average, one of the best of the year for a non-fiction opening.
Gravitas opened Half The Picture with an exclusive run, grossing $7,529. Last weekend’s specialty topper, American Animals, added dozens of runs in its second frame, grossing $234,829. Magnolia’s The Gospel According to André also expanded, taking in $43K, while the company’s superstar doc Rbg sets its sights on eight figures. And Spc’s The Rider closed in on $2M.
Hearts...
Brett Haley’s Hearts posted the higher per-theater average, debuting in four locations Friday, grossing $74,053 for an average of $18,513. Morgan Neville’s Fred Rogers documentary Won’t You Be My Neighbor? launched over the weekend in more than two dozen theaters, however, grossing $470K for a friendly $16,168 average, one of the best of the year for a non-fiction opening.
Gravitas opened Half The Picture with an exclusive run, grossing $7,529. Last weekend’s specialty topper, American Animals, added dozens of runs in its second frame, grossing $234,829. Magnolia’s The Gospel According to André also expanded, taking in $43K, while the company’s superstar doc Rbg sets its sights on eight figures. And Spc’s The Rider closed in on $2M.
Hearts...
- 6/10/2018
- by Brian Brooks
- Deadline Film + TV
“A Kid Like Jake” stars Oscar winner Octavia Spencer and three-time Emmy winner Claire Danes, which suggests high-quality source material. And, the suggestion is accurate: Based on the eponymous play by Daniel Pearle and directed by Silas Howard, “A Kid Like Jake” is a trans-focused film with an out trans director. It’s not the first, but certainly the highest-profile project of its kind.
“It’s kind of a no-brainer,” Danes said. “The script was so beautiful, and these ideas are immediately relevant to me. At that point the parallels were very striking [as] a New York mom of a four-year-old [who] had just gone through that gauntlet of applying to schools.”
“A Kid Like Jake” takes a unique approach to the story of a gender non-conforming child named Jake (Leo James Davis), who prefers the company of princesses and tutus to trucks and football. The movie shrewdly focuses on the parents,...
“It’s kind of a no-brainer,” Danes said. “The script was so beautiful, and these ideas are immediately relevant to me. At that point the parallels were very striking [as] a New York mom of a four-year-old [who] had just gone through that gauntlet of applying to schools.”
“A Kid Like Jake” takes a unique approach to the story of a gender non-conforming child named Jake (Leo James Davis), who prefers the company of princesses and tutus to trucks and football. The movie shrewdly focuses on the parents,...
- 6/1/2018
- by Jude Dry
- Indiewire
Newcomers and A-listers crowd this weekend’s batch of Specialty film arrivals. Bart Layton is making his narrative feature directorial bow with Sundance’s American Animals, which The Orchard and MoviePass picked up out of the festival. The film, which had its New York premiere this week at Regal Union Square, features a mix of narrative and documentary elements. Claire Danes, Jim Parsons and Octavia Spencer star in IFC Films feature A Kid Like Jake, which also debuted at Sundance. The title opens in New York exclusively before heading west to L.A. next week. Simon Baker directs and stars in Australia-set surf drama Breath with an exclusive launch at the Angelika in New York. And Cohen Media Group is opening French drama Rodin, hoping to capitalize on counter tentpole programming.
American Animals
Director-writer: Bart Layton
Cast: Evan Peters, Barry Keoghan, Jared Abrahamson, Blake Jenner, Ann Dowd
Distributor: The Orchard...
American Animals
Director-writer: Bart Layton
Cast: Evan Peters, Barry Keoghan, Jared Abrahamson, Blake Jenner, Ann Dowd
Distributor: The Orchard...
- 6/1/2018
- by Brian Brooks
- Deadline Film + TV
MaryAnn’s quick take… A movie as generous and as nonjudgmental as its protagonists, as frustrated yet as gently questing as they are. Claire Danes and Jim Parsons are extraordinary. I’m “biast” (pro): nothing
I’m “biast” (con): nothing
(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto) women’s participation in this film
(learn more about this)
Brooklyn couple Alex and Greg have no problem with the fact that their four-year-old son, Jake (Leo James Davis), is gender-adventurous. The little boy loves pink and sparkles, dolls and fairy tales, and Mom and Dad are absolutely fine with that. It’s only when they begin the arduous process of applying to get him into any of a slew of the city’s brutally choosy private schools — which involves all manner of testing and interviews and playdates with other prospective students — that they are forced to confront the...
I’m “biast” (con): nothing
(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto) women’s participation in this film
(learn more about this)
Brooklyn couple Alex and Greg have no problem with the fact that their four-year-old son, Jake (Leo James Davis), is gender-adventurous. The little boy loves pink and sparkles, dolls and fairy tales, and Mom and Dad are absolutely fine with that. It’s only when they begin the arduous process of applying to get him into any of a slew of the city’s brutally choosy private schools — which involves all manner of testing and interviews and playdates with other prospective students — that they are forced to confront the...
- 6/1/2018
- by MaryAnn Johanson
- www.flickfilosopher.com
The problem with “A Kid Like Jake,” which is about a four-year-old boy who enjoys taking on female roles whenever he plays, is that we see so little of the title character.
The film opens with some fairly random shots of New York buildings, and then there are handheld camera shots of Jake (Leo James Davis) running around at home. But we mainly just hear about Jake after this brief sequence, and this signifies the theatrical origin of this material, which was adapted by writer Daniel Pearle from his own play.
We first see Jake’s parents Alex (Claire Danes) and Greg (Jim Parsons) in bed together. Danes works hard to seem relaxed and happy, but the effort shows too much, and this could be a character choice, for it seems clear from the beginning that Alex and Greg are somehow at odds with each other or mismatched.
Watch Video:...
The film opens with some fairly random shots of New York buildings, and then there are handheld camera shots of Jake (Leo James Davis) running around at home. But we mainly just hear about Jake after this brief sequence, and this signifies the theatrical origin of this material, which was adapted by writer Daniel Pearle from his own play.
We first see Jake’s parents Alex (Claire Danes) and Greg (Jim Parsons) in bed together. Danes works hard to seem relaxed and happy, but the effort shows too much, and this could be a character choice, for it seems clear from the beginning that Alex and Greg are somehow at odds with each other or mismatched.
Watch Video:...
- 6/1/2018
- by Dan Callahan
- The Wrap
If “Transparent” introduced transgender adults to a wider audience, then “A Kid Like Jake” will highlight the ways children explore gender and how their identity is shaped by the views of the adults around them.
Starring Claire Danes and Jim Parsons as well-meaning parents, the New York-set “A Kid Like Jake” promises a nuanced portrait of contemporary parenthood, as told through the lens of a little boy who likes to wear skirts. The first trailer shows moments glorious and discomforting, as well as a few tears of joy. With an all-star cast and an authentic take on a topical issue, “A Kid Like Jake” is a huge step forward for trans cinema.
The story follows Alex and Greg Wheeler (Danes and Parsons), parents to Jake (newcomer Leo James Davis), as they navigate New York’s competitive elementary school application process. When the school counselor, Judy (Octavia Spencer), suggests they play...
Starring Claire Danes and Jim Parsons as well-meaning parents, the New York-set “A Kid Like Jake” promises a nuanced portrait of contemporary parenthood, as told through the lens of a little boy who likes to wear skirts. The first trailer shows moments glorious and discomforting, as well as a few tears of joy. With an all-star cast and an authentic take on a topical issue, “A Kid Like Jake” is a huge step forward for trans cinema.
The story follows Alex and Greg Wheeler (Danes and Parsons), parents to Jake (newcomer Leo James Davis), as they navigate New York’s competitive elementary school application process. When the school counselor, Judy (Octavia Spencer), suggests they play...
- 4/13/2018
- by Jude Dry
- Indiewire
"You want him to be somewhere he can thrive, right?" IFC Films has debuted an official trailer for an indie drama titled A Kid Like Jake, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. Adapted from Daniel Pearle's play, described as a "timely, honest, emotionally rich look at 21st-century parenting." Claire Danes and Jim Parsons star as parents of a precocious, creative young child named Jake, played by Leo James Davis. As they attempt to challenge the private school world in New York City, they must determine whether their son's "gender nonconformity" is something that matters, can help them, or make matters even worse. The cast includes Octavia Spencer, Priyanka Chopra, Amy Landecker, and Ann Dowd. I heard some great things about this at Sundance, and the trailer looks solid. Looking forward to it. Here's the first official trailer for Silas Howard's A Kid Like Jake, direct...
- 4/13/2018
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Four-year-old Jake Wheeler (Leo James Davis) isn’t like the other kids who are applying for a spot at one of New York City’s ultra-competitive private pre-schools. For one thing, he’s a lot more developmentally advanced than most of them, his cognitive and fine-motor skills putting him in the 96th percentile for his age group. For another, he loves to wear frilly princess dresses and pretend that he’s Rapunzel when he plays with his friends. He owns not one, but two separate copies of “Enchanted” on DVD, and his favorite movie of all-time is “The Little Mermaid” (not that there’s all that much hyper-masculine cinema out there for toddlers).
Jake’s Park Slope parents, Alex and Greg (Claire Danes and Jim Parsons), are happy to indulge their son’s “gender-expansive play” in the privacy of their own home, but how should they handle this in public?...
Jake’s Park Slope parents, Alex and Greg (Claire Danes and Jim Parsons), are happy to indulge their son’s “gender-expansive play” in the privacy of their own home, but how should they handle this in public?...
- 1/25/2018
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
IFC Films said Thursday that it acquired the North American rights to A Kid Like Jake, starring Claire Danes and Jim Parsons.
In the family drama, the stars of Homeland and The Big Bang Theory, respectively, are parents of the titular 4-year-old boy (Leo James Davis). They struggle to get on the same page when Jake embraces interests that are traditionally categorized as female, and find themselves exploring facets of gender identity.
"We are excited and proud to be working with such an acclaimed group of actors and filmmakers to bring this timely, passion-driven and deft story to audiences beyond...
In the family drama, the stars of Homeland and The Big Bang Theory, respectively, are parents of the titular 4-year-old boy (Leo James Davis). They struggle to get on the same page when Jake embraces interests that are traditionally categorized as female, and find themselves exploring facets of gender identity.
"We are excited and proud to be working with such an acclaimed group of actors and filmmakers to bring this timely, passion-driven and deft story to audiences beyond...
- 1/19/2018
- by Etan Vlessing
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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