The Frog Princes is so big-hearted you wish it had
more to say than “way to go.” Copping its framing device from Rushmore, the film shadows a theatre
troupe over a few months as it prepares for its debut performance of The Frog and the Princess. The hook is
that the performers all have developmental disabilities, and are part of an initiative
headed by Stephen Snow, a psychotherapist who teaches drama therapy at
Concordia. “Steve” to his players, Snow comes across as an amiable guy whose high
standards inspire self-confidence and a good work ethic in people from whom
society shamefully expects little. There’s joy in seeing actors like cutely
named Ray-Man, a young man with Down Syndrome, channel their untapped
self-confidence into something tangible. Ray-Man makes a sharp contrast with
Tanya, a clinically depressed woman with Prader-Willi Syndrome, whose nastiness
and frequent minor meltdowns give the film a welcome edge whenever she’s
onscreen.
What we
don’t get, unfortunately, is a strong sense of either the treatment or the play
– not insignificant gaffes, considering Snow insists that the experience culminate
in both good mental health and a watchable play. Directors Omar Majeed and Ryan
Mullins capture some fun on-the-fly footage backstage when things head south in
the first dress rehearsal, but their insistence on hammering home how charming
these players are reveals a blindspot: they take no interest in the experience
of being disabled except in the triumphant moment when an impairment is
overcome. You wonder why Ray-Man is in therapy to begin with, but the film
wishes you wouldn't. There’s no shortage of such overcoming narratives about
disability, and likeable as its subjects are, this one does little to distinguish
itself from the pack. **/****
PROGRAMME: Canadian Spectrum
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