Please Stand By

A drama in the shape of a road movie. Wendy is a young autistic woman. She lives in a care home; her day is tied to a strict order, she works at a bakery and she is at a distance from her sister. Her one large interest is a science fiction series. She sees that a screenplay competition has opened and writes her own script, hundreds of pages long. The script will not reach them in time by post. Wendy sets off alone. The destination is a studio in Los Angeles and the closing day is near. The film follows the journey: buses, wrong stops, lost money, people met on the way, and how hard it is for someone taken out of her order. What the narrative is interested in is not success but independence: everybody thinks Wendy cannot do it, and she goes not to prove that wrong but because the errand is hers. Its best idea is about language. A police officer she meets on the road knows the series and uses its language to reach her; the scene works without sliding into sentiment. Dakota Fanning plays Wendy. Toni Collette and Alice Eve are in the cast. Ben Lewin directed. Who it is for: anyone who likes quiet, small-scale road films. Who it is not for: anyone expecting surprises; the narrative is predictable and its tone stays mild throughout.