One Paragraph Movie Review: Children Of A Lesser God

Seventy-sixth film: Children of a Lesser God, or not my kind of film at all. Granted, films from 1986 are at a higher risk of having an overbearing synth soundtrack than most, and movies about the challenge of relationships with hardly any warmth or humour aren’t things I’m drawn to at the best of times, but this was lumbering, tiresome and joyless. William Hurt and Marlee Matlin do what they can with the dreariness, and I did learn a lot about deafness, but I don’t think deafness OR love are given much credit in this. No problems — beyond what the exact best outfits to wear to an 80s school formal are — are solved, and it feels very much like Hollywood is just showing off the fact that Hurt knows sign language and Matlin can act people under the table. Meh. Two janitorial tantrums out of five.