Camera is the story of a young boy Oscar (Miguel Gabriel), who is unable to speak, as he struggles to adapt to the small fishing town he has just moved to with his widowed, and hard-working mom, Evelyn (Jessica Parker Kennedy). Brought together by a broken format film camera, an unlikely friendship is formed between Oscar and a kind old repair shop owner, Eric (Beau Bridges). With the local fishing industry in decline, the town is fiercely divided whether to stake their future on building a luxury hotel, bringing in new jobs, or fight to keep the way things have been done for generations. With Eric's guidance and mentorship, Oscar captures the goodness in people, and in doing so heals a wounded community.
While it's never going to win any oscars, Camera is a very watchable and heartwarming film which has many messages depending o which one you want it to deliver. For me, it's that still images can capture a moment frozen in time, that no-one else might ever see had the picture not been taken. That's not an earth shattering insight or an arcane observation of life, it's just an off the cuff comment. I guess you could also say that you never know where your next friend is coming from, and you can't always trust those closest to you. It's also hard to believe that Beau Bridges has made hundreds of films going right back to 1948, and is still knocking them out. A very watchable film I gave it a 6.
