Martian Child

David, a science fiction writer whose wife has died, decides to adopt a boy who says he comes from Mars. The child lives inside a cardboard box to shield himself from the sun, wears a weight belt so he will not float away, and insists he does not belong here. John Cusack plays David as a man who tries to live with the belief rather than correct it. The source is David Gerrold's semi-autobiographical book, with one large alteration: in print the adopting man is gay, and the film turns him into a widower. Gerrold's difficulty as a gay man going through adoption was the substance of the story, and the adaptation removed exactly that. Who it is for: viewers who like gentle dramas about fatherhood and belonging. Who it is not for: readers expecting the book's actual subject, which is not in this film at all.