The Wise Kids

Color me shocked about this little film that’s surprisingly touching. A story about three close friends slowly drifting apart in that awkward moment between the end of high school and the beginning of college, The Wise Kids offers all of its characters moments of tenderness and grace. The uncertainty of what the change will bring, what the personal revelations will do to their relationships, and questions of faith and sexuality bring about these moments of humanity and connection.

The story follows three friends: the pastor’s daughter losing her religion (Molly Kunz), the devoutly religious friend (Allison Torem), and the gay boy slowly taking part of the coming out process (Tyler Ross). It’s not surprising that Torem is slowly losing the other two as they become ‘different’ from the body of the suburban Baptist neighborhood. The stasis of this society gets rocked, but not in the volcanic ways one would expect but in smaller ways with longer lasting ramifications.

The Wise Kids could easily be loud or provocative, but it refuses to do so. These moments would provide some technical fireworks but wouldn’t provide anything close to reality. It is much more likely for stolen kisses to lead to both parties agreeing to just never talk about it and go about their days as if nothing happened. The Wise Kids is smart in these instances, and the bottled up emotions build up and crack out in sideways spouts. There’s too much at stake here, the fragility of the situations requires a more delicate touch to really hammer home their points.