Matt

Matthew Tapia was born 3 month premature, weighing almost nothing and with doctors saying for many years that he would not live, or would live but never walk, or would walk but never talk, or would talk but only as a mimic, and so on. This film picks up with Matt in his high school where he is a friendly kid, well known in his school and, despite every challenge and excuse, he is an active member of sports teams and the community.

The way I describe the film makes me want to watch it because it sounds like an uplifting story of someone putting the best on their life and determined to make it work for them despite the odds. The sports motif at the heart of the story puts it in the world of the underdog made good – a story everyone loves whether it is true or not. So with all of this in place, why did I feel so very awkward watching it? To answer that, the film starts to feel more and more like it is people humouring Matt rather than accepting him for who he is. It doesn't help that for all but the very end of the film, we never hear from Matt himself but hear others speak of him like he wasn't in the room (which he isn't, but you know what I mean). The centrepiece moment of the film is the appearance in a playoff game – which is a nice gesture but ultimately feels like a pity play. Likewise the clip of a basketball match seems like everyone humouring him.

I feel terrible to feel that way because I know it is all done with a good heart but by not letting Matt speak for himself while also filling the film with others speaking about him, the whole film has this air of this. Ironically, the time I really did feel moved was towards the end when Matt's father says some personal words and also Matt himself gets to speak about what it means for him – and at that point I understood what it means and how good it is for him that he has so much when his life initially offered nothing but terrible odds of base survival.

Ultimately the weakness in the film is that it is others speaking about and for Matt, and after a while the statements start to lose sincerity; whereas to hear and see Matt and his father is nothing but reality and sincerity – and this is the heart of the film to me. I have no idea why this was so little used and left to literally the last minute of the film, but it really hurts it. There is a great story here and it does have moving and cheering elements, but there is a "do something nice for the little guy" feel to it that has a slight air of being patronizing that I really couldn't shake off; Matt is the title and the subject of the film – and it really needed to use him better than it did.