No Small "Thing"
One of the few really accurate and heartfelt "coming of age" films, "A Whole New Thing" is no small accomplishment.
A reverse on the old parents know best cliche, eleven year old Edison is the wise, virtuous and intelligent "puer" figure (i.e. "wise neophyte"), who stands up to bullies, challenges humbug, tolerates parental malfeasance, and wins us over without chirpiness, nor pre-adolescent glumness, but with his winsome use of the English language and patience with his elders and his clueless contemporaries.
In a particular couple of off-beat scenes, he vanquishes a band of bullies who taunt him for being gay, by grabbng the pretty girl they are too timid to approach, passionately embracing and kissing her fervently. "How did you get her to do that/" one of the gaggle gasps. "Nothing" smirks Edison.
The appeal of the pineforest settings, the minor characters, the the shock denoument,
combine to make this film the ultimate "sleeper", which died a misterious death in cinemas.
