A young man with Down Syndrome goes on a search for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow in The Rainbow Kid. Eugene (Dylan Harman) is a 19 year old man with Down Syndrome, who is desperate to help out with his mother’s financial troubles. Taking inspiration from his favourite story, Eugene heads out to search for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Along the way, Eugene encounters a number of interesting individuals, including a dowsing hermit (Nicholas Campbell), an aged punk rocker (Julian Richings), and a somewhat shady man named Keith (Neil Crone), who has a daughter with Down Syndrome named Anna (Krystal Hope Nausbaum).
When you really think about it, there haven’t really been too many films that focus entirely on people with disabilities. In fact, it has been five years since I last saw a film about a name with Down Syndrome in 2010’s Girlfriend. Dylan Harman, the young lead of The Rainbow Kid, really holds his own in the film, which addresses some of the stereotypes people have against people with disabilities.
The Rainbow Kid sees Eugene having a number of encounters on his journey, which ranges from quite comedic to very dark. In fact, the film makes quite a bit of a tonal shift in the final act, which can come off as quite shocking. However, this is not really a detriment to The Rainbow Kid, since its actually kind of brave not to sugercoat this journey Eugene goes on. Altogether, The Rainbow Kid is a touching, funny, and occasionally quite dark odyssey of this young man with Down Syndrome.
LIKED IT The Rainbow Kid opens today at the Carlton Cinema