Stutterer

An attractively tousled young typesetter (Matthew Needham) lives with his dad (Eric Richard) and has been having a six-month long online chat with "Ellie” (Chloe Pirrie). Why make a film about him? Well he stutters. Making himself verbally understood in an impatient world is nigh on impossible, and with the exception of his father he chats to nobody - preferring on occasion to pretend he is mute. Then “Ellie” announces that she is coming to London and wants to meet. Clearly their chat hasn’t revealed that he has difficulties with his speech and so he faces a crisis. Does he meet and risk disappointing her or does he feign some excuse? On the other hand, who's to say that perhaps she hasn’t secrets of her own? Can he find the courage? I found this to be a really quite poignant glimpse into a world where one of our most basic communication skills is unavailable and it’s unnerving to watch. To think of just how much of our lives depends on our abilities to speak - face to face or on the phone, and to be unable could be devastating to anyone’s confidence and induce, as the lad himself explains, a degree of introspection and even self-pity. I’m not sure I loved the ending, but the topic is explored here in an engagingly thought-provoking and personal fashion and this is well worth an quarter of your hour.