I caught a movie last night with an outsider / coming of age theme. The young, unusually intelligent student (played by Andy Serkis) is befriended and mentored by surrogate father figure James Franco, but despite all of their efforts, the student’s outsider status reigns supreme as he is gradually shuffled through a system that understands him no better than the inhabitants of the various locations into which he is placed by it. Can he find a way to make himself understood and grab onto happiness somewhere in the world? Can Franco make the student understand his own connection, his own love, and can that connection be enough?

Oh, also they tacked on a science fiction framework around that basic storyline, based as a prequel to a classic movie with Charlton Heston that you may have heard of[1], and also some really significant special effects and a pretty cool actiony climax. So that part was alright too.

[1] Hint: it’s not “people”.