The Tic Code

At the centre of the film is a boy of ten. He has a gift for the piano. The classical training he is given bores him. What he really wants is to play jazz. His teacher does not care for that preference. His mother, on the other hand, backs him. With her help the boy gets into a jazz club. He plays there regularly although he is underage. One night he shares a stage with a well known saxophonist. As they play, something becomes clear. Both of them have Tourette’s syndrome. The man has spent years trying to hide it. The openness of the boy and his mother unsettles him. Accepting his own condition is not easy for him. The film runs this alongside the music. Gregory Hines and Polly Draper appear in the ninety one minute film, an American production Gary Winick finished in 1998.