The Giant
New Directors/New Films 2017
March 15 - 26, 2017
A true original, this provocative, grittily realist sports movie following a severely deformed and autistic man who lives to play petanque (a kind of lawn-bowling) is suffused with compassion and humor.
Rikard lives to play petanque (a kind of lawn-bowling with hollow steel balls). But his severe physical deformity, coupled with autism, makes communication with the world beyond a very small group of family, friends, and petanque teammates nearly impossible. As Rikard’s team gears up for a prestigious tournament, his fantasies—some involving his mother, who lives in squalor with her pet parrot, and some imagining himself as a giant stomping across a kitschy, romanticist landscape—transport him beyond the confines of the long-term care facility where he lives. Nyholm’s debut feature is a true original: a provocative, grittily realist sports movie, suffused with compassion and humor.
Support provided by the Consulate General of Sweden in New York.
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