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A young autistic girl grows strange bumps on her back as she faces an uncertain future. MURMUR is used with permission from Simon Smith. Learn more at . Hannah is a single mom raising her young daughter, Evie, on her own. Their situation is made more challenging due to Evie's autism. To the eyes of most people, Evie is uncommunicative, and she's in danger of losing her place at school, much to her mother's distress. But Evie is communicating with everything else: the static on a TV screen, flowers growing outside, the starlings in the sky. She has a world of her own, and when she begins to grow strange bumps on her back, she looks poised to join this other world -- but will have to leave her mother behind. Directed by Simon Smith from a script written by acclaimed sci-fi writer Temi Oh, this magical-realist short drama is much like a contemporary fairy tale woven in with a naturalistic family drama, toggling between Evie's unique perspective and her mother's travails. These challenges intensify as the question of Evie's educational future comes up, and the relationship between mother and daughter shifts and changes. One part of the storytelling allows us into Evie's head, layering sounds, images and rhythms to capture her subjectivity through a poetic visual approach. Sounds are unbalanced and loud; the emphasis is on textures, light, colors and sensory details. In this section, Evie can talk to objects and understand their unique perspectives, in moments that have a charming simplicity. But another part of the storytelling focuses on what this process appears to the world outside Evie's headspace, filled with adults who are trying to figure out what “box“ to put Evie into. Evie's magical moments from this perspective are her mother's most stressful ones, as Hannah attempts to navigate Evie through any number of difficulties, from trying to buy groceries in a crowded store to being evaluated developmentally with a strange test at school. Relayed in a steadier, unadorned naturalism, this strand of the narrative fills out Hannah's perspective and conflict. She wants Evie to be seen, heard and recognized for her gifts and loved for who she is, a challenge in a world that sees Evie as disabled. And Evie's needs seem to be changing, testing the limits of Hannah's parenting and endurance. Connecting these two different perspectives are the stellar performances of the two leads. As Evie, actor Sienna Daly, who is autistic offers an immediacy, innocence and authenticity in her portrayal, and every moment on the screen with her is captivating. Actor Bronagh Waugh as her mother deftly carries the moving arc of a deeply loving parent uncertain of how to connect or even understand her neurodivergent child, often isolated and alone in the daily ins and outs of caretaking and rarely receiving much affection or even recognition. As MURMUR reaches its lyrical, spell-binding ending, though, Hannah receives a sign of love that she has been yearning for -- and a reassurance that there is a place in the world for her daughter. Both joyful and bittersweet, it's rendered in a conclusion that is magical in its poetry, heartfelt in its deep emotion and wise in its empathy and compassion.
