Fly Away: A film about autism, sacrifice, unconditional love

Fly Away: A film about autism, sacrifice, unconditional love
By JO ASHLINE
2011-07-06 22:38:48

I am five minutes into my Friday night flick, Fly Away, when I realize that the woman on the screen looks awfully familiar.

This woman; I know her.

It’s more than just her unkempt hair and the bags under her eyes. I stare at my television screen as she is awakened in the middle of the night by the moans of her adolescent daughter who has Autism, watch as she stumbles into her room, comforts her, and falls back asleep only to awaken too late to get anything done right the rest of the day.

I am mesmerized as I watch her barely get by, over and over again, like some twisted and relentless version of Groundhog Day. I’m moved as I witness her exhaustion, her impatience, her subsequent need for forgiveness as she gives into her anger and frustration. I recognize the sorrow in her voice and the hope in her heart, but most of all I recognize her unyielding love for her daughter, the kind of love that keeps you going even when all logic dictates you should have given up long ago.

Oh yes.

I know this woman well.

Fly Away, written and directed by Janet Grillo, an Emmy Award winning producer and Award winning writer and director, is a full feature film based on Grillo’s short Flying Lessons and tells the story of a single mother, Jeanne, who faces a myriad of challenges as she raises her autistic teenage daughter, Mandy.

Grillo, whose own teenage son was diagnosed with Autism at a young age, says she’s always been “inspired by the boy and not the diagnosis” and harnessed her own experiences with raising a special needs child when going through the creative process, though she adds that Mandy, portrayed exquisitely by Ashley Rickards who is not autistic, is far more impacted than her son ever was.

That’s not to say the first several years weren’t difficult. She recalls feeling “creatively stifled" when her son was first diagnosed, and put all of her focus and energy into healing her son. As he began to improve, she began to feel a sudden surge of creativity: “It was like releasing a ball that’s been trapped underwater; the writing just burst onto the surface and once I started I couldn’t stop."

She wrote and directed her award winning short, Flying Lessons, and realized that the Q and A sessions after each screening were becoming impromptu support group meetings for the parents in the audience. Many encouraged her to tell the story as a full feature and Grillo says she felt compelled to listen.

She was determined to bring Autism to life on the big screen, though she knew it would be impossible to portray all of the characteristics of the Autism Spectrum in one film. “I had to pick the struggles I was going to depict when writing the screenplay; I wanted to show the realities of living with Autism without making the audience so claustrophobic that they walked out of the theater halfway through."

The result is a film rooted in an honesty that is typically the anti-thesis of most Hollywood fare, a film that dares to conjure up a range of emotions within its audience. It’s the movie no one else wanted to make because the main characters weren’t glamorous enough, their conflicts and heartbreak impossible to resolve in an hour and a half.

But thanks to Janet Grillo and a phenomenal cast, it’s the kind of movie that will stay with you long after the credits have rolled, regardless if you are a parent of a child with autism or not.

After all, the movie’s message - that a parent’s love for their child often comes with excruciating sacrifice - is something no parent wants to endure, but so many must face.

To experience Fly Away (what are you waiting for?!), stream it directly from Netflix, order it on Amazon or purchase it through iTunes. For more details about Fly Away, Janet Grillo, and the superb cast, visit Flyawaymovie.com, become a fan on Facebook, and follow Fly Away on Twitter.

© Copyright 2011 Freedom Communications. All Rights Reserved.
Privacy Policy | User Agreement | Site Map

KTLA

Fly Away (DVD)

2:54 PM  April 13, 2011

FLY AWAY
Flat Iron Film Company / 2011 / 80 mins / NR

THE MOVIE:
The subject of autism has been covered many times in film from low budget shorts, to documentaries to big budget Hollywood fare such as BEING THERE, RAIN MAN and WHAT’S EATING GILBERT GRAPE. Not to belittle or make light of any of those excellent films, they seem to use autism as a plot device to tell a bigger story. Chance/Chauncey accidentally runs with the rich and powerful, Raymond goes on a Las Vegas road trip with Tom Cruise and the Grape family dynamic (no matter how emotionally powerful and touching) is something most people would never experience. 

FLY AWAY is a low budget and very direct look as autism. Writer/Producer/Director Janet Grillo knows of what she speaks here having been an executive producer on 2008’s Emmy Award winning “Autism: The Musical” and delving into the subject on her previous short film FLYING LESSONS. FLY AWAY doesn’t take us on a life affirming road trip or give us clever parables into politics and life. It is a very blunt, very matter-of-fact look at how an everywoman deals with raising an autistic daughter. 

The story follows single mother Jeanne (Beth Broderick) through a few weeks of her life raising her autistic teen age daughter Mandy (Ashley Rickards.) During this time, we see how Mandy’s condition affects Jeanne’s relationship with her ex-husband, her potential for new romance, her career, how she handles her daughter’s sometime violent public episodes and how she ultimately decides how to live her life by either staying as her daughter’s full time care person, or letting her go by enrolling her in a therapeutic residential facility. 

Grillo keeps everything in her story extremely grounded in reality. Jeanne’s everyday life is the story here and Grillo does a magnificent job of keeping the audience inside her character’s mindset. One of the key ways she does this is by taking us through Jeanne’s daily routine over and over again. From being awakened almost nightly by Mandy’s screaming to walking the dog and making breakfast, we don’t just see it once and move on to other aspects. Jeanne’s brutal daily routine is ground into the audiences psyche as well so we can share her joys at such little things as Mandy putting cereal in a bowl rather than eating it out of the bag. 

FLY AWAY is one of the best examinations of living with autism ever put to film. It is presented with almost a documentary feel to it. The cast is superb with Broderick standing out. We feel exactly what is going through her head throughout the film and rarely stray from being on her side. On the few occasions we could (such as her reaction to a neighbor’s romantic advances), we completely understand her motives. She also never crosses the line into melodrama, although the subject is ripe for that temptation. FLY AWAY is a sobering, beautiful little film that is well worth seeking out. 

THE DISC:
The anamorphic 1.85 picture and 5.1 Surround soundtrack (2.0 is also available) aren’t meant to blow you away. This is a drama; you focus on the acting and dialogue. They are both crisp and clear delivering a fine viewing experience. No complaints on the technical front. 

THE EXTRAS:
Only two extras here:

“A Conversation with the Filmmakers of FLY AWAY” features Grillo, producer Pavlina Hatoupis, cast members Broderick and Rickards and the films’ composer. They discuss the standard basics of the making of the film and how Rickards approached her autistic character along with working with an almost entirely female crew. The sound sometimes drops unexpectedly but never vanishes and this feature is presented non-anamorphic. 

A music video for “Autism Speaks: It’s Time to Listen” is also included. 

MY SAY:
FLY AWAY is a strong little film that you will probably have to seek out, but it is worth the search.

Posted by Erik Candiani | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Arizona Examiner

Movie Review: Fly Away

Writer/director Janet Grillo's “Fly Away” is intensely heartbreaking and profoundly uplifting. It is a movie that, while not always easy to watch, rewards the viewer with a sense of hopeful-yet-realistic optimism.

Moreover, the entire cast excels. Beth Broderick perfectly demonstrates the exhaustion associated with a love as desperate as her character's while Ashley Rickards skillfully facilitates a remarkable transformation and the extraordinarily talented Greg Germann adds just the right amount of sweet humor to the mix.

In the drama, based on the award-winning short “Flying Lessons,” Broderick plays Jeanne, the single mother of a teenage daughter with Autism, Mandy (Rickards). Jeanne adores Mandy but, as the young girl matures, her disability becomes harder to manage – especially for a woman who is struggling to just make ends meat.

To make the heart of the trouble even more apparent, Jeanne finds herself being wooed by a kind stranger named Tom (Germann). Tom is wonderful around Mandy but Jeanne fails to see why such a great man would have any interest whatsoever in a single mother to a teenage daughter with Autism.

Therefore, feeling strain on the relationship, Jeanne cuts Tom out of her life. But her personal problems continue to intensify as she makes even more sacrifices at the cost of her own well-being, eventually encouraging Jeanne to confront the most difficult decision a parent can make – to let go, allowing her child to grow, or to hold on tight and fall together.

In her director's statement, Grillo, a mother of a child with disabilities herself, explains that “Fly Away” is a personal film, derived from experience. She adds, “If 'Fly Away' eases the pain of even one parent's torturous decision, or if it expands the heart of even one person untouched by Autism to accept our children and appreciate our struggles, it will have been well worth making.”

Grillo undoubtedly accomplishes her goal as “Fly Away” feels every bit as personal as she must have hoped and it certainly touched this critic's heart and soul. Unlike most motion pictures with spotlights on similar subjects, this one never patronizes the viewer, allowing us to feel true emotion on our own accord without using any manipulation whatsoever.

Accentuating Grillo's great direction and strong screenplay are a trio of terrific talents in Broderick, Rickards and Germann. Each of the actors bring something different to “Fly Away,” be it Broderick's authentic agony, Rickards' convincing condition or Germann's captivating charm and the movie is an absolute triumph.

“Fly Away” (NR – 80 minutes) is now available via video-on-demand and on DVD at retail stores and rental outlets throughout the Valley.

Milwaukee Moms

Critically Acclaimed FLY AWAY Now Available on Cable VOD, iTunes and DVD: % of Proceeds Benefit Autism Speaks

Posted by Sommer Hixson on April 27, 2011

"Gripping, life-enhancing... Not since Patty Duke in The Miracle Worker has any actor portrayed a handicapped child (especially one with autism) with the same depth of passion and realism." - Rex Reed, The New York Observer

"The lovely, heartbreaking 'Fly Away' benefits from superb performances and a gripping story managed with simplicity and grace...The film skillfully bypasses its genre's potential pitfalls, opting for intimacy over sensationalism, poignancy over sentimentality." -Los Angeles Times

"Exceptional performances by two femme leads and sensitive but unsentimental storytelling throughout." - Variety "Taking a coolheaded approach to hot-button issues, 'Fly Away' overcomes its neatly bow-tied ending with strong performances and a spare, intelligent script." - The New York Times

Jeanne (Beth Broderick) has cared for Mandy (Ashley Rickards) since the day she was born, growing closer every day to a child who is charmingly offbeat one moment and nearly impossible to manage the next.

In the local dog park, Jeanne - who is divorced - encounters Tom (Greg Germann), an easygoing and accepting neighbor who sparks a romantic interest, but she finds juggling Mandy's care and her own career leaves little room for a new man.

As the pressures of work and her child's needs increase, she must decide whether or not to enroll Mandy in a therapeutic residential facility. Over the course of a few weeks, Jeanne is confronted with the most difficult decision a parent can make: to let go, allowing her child to grow, but also grow apart; or to hold on tight and fall together.

Following its film festival debut and critically-acclaimed theatrical release, FLY AWAY, a new feature film directed by Emmy Award® winner Janet Grillo (Autism: The Musical), is available today on VOD, Digital and DVD platforms.

An award-winning script and compellingly real performances portray the poignant story of a single mother of an autistic teenager facing the challenge every parent eventually does: when to let your child go. 10% of proceeds from DVD sales and 15% of proceeds from VOD rentals will be donated to Austism Speaks. The film opened theatrically in New York, Los Angeles and Washington, DC on April 11.

Technorati

Author: Bob Etier 
Published: April 20, 2011 at 4:56 pm

Being a single mother is a tough job; no matter how tough it looks in the movies, in real life it’s tougher. One of the things that get lost in the shuffle of parenthood and work responsibilities is the person who must fulfill them. Even juggling the basic stuff—school, homework, pediatric well-visits, dentist, housekeeping, meals—leaves little time for personal development or a social life. When a child gets sick, it’s chaos. Even a mild case of the flu can cause major upset.

Can you imagine what it must be like to be the single mother of a sixteen-year-old autistic child? Fly Away, a film by Janet Grillo, does the imagining for us. Beth Broderick stars as Jeanne, a work-at-home consultant and mother of an autistic teenager whose life centers on the demands of her daughter, Mandy (Ashley Rickards). The amount of time she spends bouncing from crisis to crisis threatens her career, and Mandy is becoming increasingly violent with her  parents and students in her school.

Mandy’s father (JR Bourne) would like Mandy to be placed in a therapeutic residential facility, especially as she becomes more unmanageable. Convincing Jeanne to place Mandy in such a facility is a waste of time for her ex-husband and the faculty of Mandy’s school (which is about to expel her).

Complicating Jeanne’s life is Tom (Greg Germann), a man she meets while walking her dog, who is romantically interested in her. Jeanne’s responsibilities as a parent and her prolonged lack of a social life make her a poor candidate for romance.

The conflict between being a good parent and letting go is at the heart of Fly Away. It is difficult to watch at times, as Mandy’s behavior spirals out of control—both her own and her mother’s—and we wonder how any parent is able to deal with a child who is so seriously impaired. As we watch Jeanne’s life devolve, we feel her frustration. It’s not easy when the right thing is a thing doesn’t feel right.

Fly Away (Flatiron Film Company) will be released on DVD, digital, and VOD, April 26, 2011. 10% of proceeds from DVD sales and 15% of proceeds from VOD rentals will be donated to Autism Speaks.