Director Sia
Starring Kate Hudson, Maddie Ziegler, Leslie Odom Jr
Rated M
Score 2/6

Review by TanteLiz

On the death of her grandmother, Zu, an alcoholic, finds herself having to care for her autistic sister.

I really wanted to like this movie. However, it was a letdown as both a musical and a drama.

The songs for the most were forgettable apart from the last one played over the end titles. The musical numbers were meant to portray what was going on in Music’s mind; an attempt to see things from her point of view. They were bright and reminiscent of children’s television shows like Blue’s Clues or Yo Gabba Gabba. In fact, there are several scenes in the movie showing a children’s show hosted by a very bored looking Tig Notaro.

The plot was pretty, unremarkable bordering on disability inspiration porn. Music somehow inspires her alcoholic, drug dealing sister to change her life and start being a responsible adult. This movie is a fantasy on many levels. The alcoholism and drug dealing were sugar coated. Caring for someone as profoundly disabled (and I say this from the point of view of a Carer) was highly sugar coated.

Sia has a lot to answer for in her over the top direction of Maddie Ziegler’s portrayal of profound autism. What is with all the constant twitches? ** spoiler alert – And why is Music given some psychic power when it is alluded to in one dance sequence that a friend has died as they ride off on a tandem bike with the deceased grandmother? And honestly how did she get around the community safely the next day without support?
I saw this with my autistic daughter who I believe is similar to the character of Music that Maddie attempts to portray, and her support worker. Responses were “autism wasn’t researched”, while my daughter communicated via her device it wasn’t a good movie.

There are some very concerning scenes where Music is restrained on the ground and either Rebu or Zu lay on top of her in attempts to calm her. This is a very dangerous practice. At best it can further distress the autistic person and they may continue to self-harm or harm you. At it’s very worst autistics have died having this done to them. I don’t understand why this hasn’t been called out by reviewers. It is promoted in the movie as an acceptable calming stratergy. It is far worse than a non-autistic actor portraying an autistic. DO NOT EVER ATTEMPT TO DO THIS.




There were a few moments that made me as a Carer cry, so it gets 2 stars out of 6 instead of 1. I do think you would need to be a big Sia fan to enjoy this one.