The Young and Prodigious T. S. Spivet

The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet is a 2013 adventure-drama film directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and co-written with Guillaume Laurant, an adaptation of the 2009 book The Selected Works of T. S. Spivet written by Reif Larsen. The film stars Helena Bonham Carter, Judy Davis, Callum Keith Rennie, and Kyle Catlett. Plot T.S. Spivet is a 10-year-old boy and budding cartographer living on a secluded, rural Montana ranch with his moody older sister, his pretentious entomologist mother, and his emotionally distant and quiet wannabe cowboy father. Lonely and often ignored and belittled by the people around him – even his own teacher, who envies the boy's talent – T.S. spends most of his time playing, making amateur inventions, and meandering around the ranch with the family dog, Tapioca. T.S. reveals that he had a fraternal twin brother, Layton, who was much more into cowboy-themed things, like his father, but not as scientifically inclined as T.S. was. A tragedy unfolds as T.S. describes how he and his brother were out playing in an old barn on the property. T.S. receives notice from the Smithsonian Institution, all the way across the country in Washington, that he has won the Baird Award for inventing a perpetual motion machine. Ms. Jibsen, the museum director, believes that T.S. is a grown man, and that the little boy on the telephone is the son of the prize-winner. Initially reluctant, T.S. decides that the best course of action is to run away from home to receive the prize. Before leaving, he packs a suitcase and takes one last look at Layton's old bedroom, a shrine of dusty toys and furniture that his parents are unable to bring themselves to throw away. T.S. passes his sister and his father upon leaving, who are both too wrapped up in their own daily routines to notice him.