The Peanut Butter Falcon (2019)

Directed by: Tyler Nilson, Michael Schwartz | 93 minutes | adventure, comedy | Actors: Zack Gottsagen, Ann Owens, Dakota Johnson, Bruce Dern, Shia LaBeouf, Thomas Haden Church, Rob Thomas, Jon Bernthal, Tim Zajaros, John Hawkes, Yelawolf, Jonathan D. Williams, Deja Dee, Lee Spencer, Mark Helms, Michael Berthold

He was one of the most notable appearances at the 2020 Academy Awards: Zack Gottsagen. Together with Shia LaBeouf, he awarded the prize for Best Live Action Short Film to Marshall Curry for ‘The Neighbour’s Window’ (2019). The 35-year-old actor was the first person with Down syndrome to be awarded an Oscar, making history. Gottsagen co-starred with LaBeouf in ‘The Peanut Butter Falcon’ (2019), a road movie written especially for him by Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz. The duo, who gained experience directing short documentaries and video clips, met Gottsagen in 2011 when they provided an acting workshop for aspiring actors with disabilities. Gottsagen stood out for his undeniable talent, and Nilson and Schwartz agreed to make a movie with him. ‘The Peanut Butter Falcon’ is a contemporary tribute to Mark Twain’s classic ‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’, in which the title character and his buddy Tom Sawyer have grand adventures. Like the book, the film captivatingly embodies the search for freedom across the sweltering wilderness of the American South.

In his twenties, Zak (Zack Gottsagen) is forced to spend his days, for lack of a better place for him, in a retirement home in North Carolina. His parents once renounced him; apparently they didn’t feel like taking care of a handicapped child. His alternative family now consists of the elderly in the home and caretaker Eleanor (Dakota Johnson), a student who works as a volunteer at the care home. Zak dreams of meeting his great hero: Salt Water Redneck (Thomas Haden Church), a show wrestler who had his heyday in the 1980s and started a wrestling school in southern South Carolina after his active career. Wanting nothing more than to sign up for wrestling training with his hero, Zak makes more than one attempt to escape from the home, aided by the mischievous elders. One evening, after watching his videotape of Salt Water Redneck for the umpteenth time, Zak tries to escape again. He gets help from Carl (small but nice role by Bruce Dern), who advises him to rub himself with soap so that he slides more easily between the split bars. Very early in the morning, Zak smears him, dressed in big white underpants and with nothing else on him.

Tyler (Shia LaBeouf) is a freeloader haunted by a trauma that killed his beloved brother (Jon Berthal). He tries to make ends meet by fishing, but when he robs other people’s crab nets he gets Duncan (John Hawkes) and his inseparable ‘heavy’ Ratboy (rapper Yelawolf) after him. In revenge, Tyler in an unguarded moment sets fire to tens of thousands of dollars worth of Duncan’s fishing gear. From that moment on, he is a man on the run. He takes off in his motorboat, but turns out to have a stowaway on board: Zak. At first he sees him as a rock and wants to leave the boy to his fate, but he can’t get it over his heart. Especially not when he learns that Zak is on the run like him: the two turn out to have more in common than he first thought. They decide to make Zak’s dream come true and go to Salt Water Redneck’s wrestling school, all the while being chased by the distraught Eleanor and the enraged Duncan and Ratboy.

Road movies generally have a fairly formulaic plot, so it is important for filmmakers to distinguish themselves with atmosphere, engaging characters and strong roles, and ‘The Peanut Butter Falcon’ scores excellent in those areas. Nilson and Schwartz immerse us in an authentic atmosphere of The Deep South, with endless swamps, impressive coastlines and penetrating wilderness, which are captured sultry and dreamy thanks to director of photography Nigel Bluck (a striking detail is that the film is not set in the Carolinas). but was recorded in Georgia, but that state has a similar nature). Thanks to a warm, atmospheric soundtrack full of bluegrass, Americana, folk and spirituals you really imagine yourself in the deep south of the US. The captivating characters are also fine: Gottsagen may have the least experience, but convinces in a role that is probably not far from his own personality and – more importantly – grabs us right from the first minute with his rebellious character. Shia LaBeouf has been in the news so much in recent years for private skirmishes (public drunkenness, tantrums, and general misconduct) that you’d almost forget that he’s a more than decent actor. In ‘The Peanut Butter Falcon’ he is at his best, in a very layered role in which a brooding appearance and a rebellious, nonconformist demeanor hide a broken man who has never been able to make peace with his past. His chance encounter with the disarming Zak offers him an unexpected new footing. The friendship and brotherhood that splashes off the screen is genuine and contagious.

‘The Peanut Butter Falcon’ is a heartwarming and utterly charming film, largely thanks to the wonderful chemistry between newcomer Gottsagen and the reinstated LaBeouf, which we gladly forgive for not getting the prize for originality and not digging too deeply. A modern feel-good fairy tale with its heart in the right place.