Illness spans all ages, as does the need to come to terms and live with the challenges it brings. Tom Martin’s KINETICS grants us a view of the emotional landscape of two people receiving different diagnoses, and how they become each other’s confidant.
At the heart of this film is Rose, a drama teacher and Lucas, a student at the same school. Both have been diagnosed with lifechanging conditions: Rose with Parkinson’s and Lucas with ADHD. They are also connected by the desire to move. Rose has to come to terms with her decreasing ability to control her movement, and Lucas does parkour to de-stress.

They meet through chance, and develop a friendship through lunchtime conversations and Scrabble. Finding out about their problems is what takes their connection to a new level, and how they become pillars of support for one another.
While it is nothing new to portray a character’s personal experience with illness, this film also explores other people’s attitudes. Rose and Lucas reflect upon other people’s reactions  and their own perceptions of those responses. The film takes a very respectful approach to Rose and Lucas’s experiences, and the tone of the film is rather intimate and selfexploratory – Rose, for example, feels that “Parkinson’s is a bit like having a stalker … gradually eroding your freedom”.

Overall, the film is a heartfelt and respectful portrayal of the journey from denial to acceptance, and finding support in unexpected places.

KINETICS screens at the Cambridge Film Festival at the Arts Picturehouse on 28th October at 17.15.