From small things…

Keep The Change started small, or, more specifically, short, as a 15-minute film made in 2013. Four years later, as a full-length feature, it charmed critics and audiences alike at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, where it just won big (Best Narrative Feature and Best New Narrative Director). The movie is indeed a romance with its share of laugh out loud moments, but to call it a romantic comedy is to deny its emotional heft. David and Sarah, each at different places on the autism spectrum, meet at a community center for special needs adults and fall in love. The story line is ripe with opportunities for easy sentimentality about the characters’ otherness. But writer director Rachel Israel, who spent 3 years raising money and shot the film in 25 days, kept a firm hand on her script and wisely put her faith in her cast of primarily amateur autistic actors. As the leads, Brandon Polansky and Samantha Elisofon fully inhabit their characters and deliver performances that run from deeply moving to hilarious-with-an-edge. David, as the high functioning son of well to do parents who refuse to accept his diagnosis, struggles to appear normal. The ebullient Sarah has a harder time communicating and connecting with those around her but glows throughout with a genuine love of life. He may be the more worldly of the two, but she is the more honest about what it means to live with a disability on a daily basis. Her understanding of that is a gift to both David and the audience. In the end this is a story about two people trying to find their places in the world and someone with whom to share that experience. As with any couple, love doesn’t come easy, but in this case, it’s worth the time it takes….as is the movie. Here’s the short that started it all.