In the 70s, 12-year old Ben(Oakes Fegley) is mourning his mother’s death. In a freak accident he is struck by lightning and rendered deaf. He decides to runaway to New York to search for the father he has never met This story is crosscut with the story of Rose (Millicent Simmonds), a deaf girl in 1927. Her parents don’t understand her or her struggles so she runs away to live with her brother Walter (Cory Michael Smith) in New York. To say more on how the stories intertwine would be a spoiler.
There are some bold choices in the direction of this movie. Rose’s story is presented as a black and white silent film. For parts of Ben’s stories the sound drops out and back in, trying to put us more in his shoes.
This movie had some good ideas, but ultimately didn’t succeed. Major characters and story lines are dropped at the start of the 3rd act only to appear again in the last five minutes. The end of the movie is a too long exposition scene that reveals how the two stories overlap. It’s not interesting enough or surprising enough to justify itself.