“Inside I’m Racing” is an Irish short film centered around autistic teen Jamie (Ethan Dodd) and his passion for auto racing. Right off the bat, the film falls into an easy trope so often seen by movies centered around characters with a disability — the story immediately becomes about how Jamie’s disability impacts those around him, instead of how he navigates through life with autism.
Jamie’s parents Marie (Clodagh Downing) and Andy (Paddy Rocks) are supportive to the point that they inadvertently neglect their daughter Katie (Kelly Thorton). Katie openly resents her brother’s disability, but still loves him dearly. It’s a stale take on a family drama focused on a mental disability. Remove the character names and swap out some plot details, and it is absolutely interchangeable for any other drama on a similar subject matter.
For that reason, the supporting cast’s performances fall a little flat. As these character archetypes are so often portrayed, Downing, Rocks, and Thorton go through the motions to mimic what they have seen before. Dodd’s performance as Jamie is the closest thing the cast has to a standout performance. Dodd gives off an appropriate level of restraint that makes Jamie’s inability to connect with those around him believable. At times, the performance straddles the line of cliché. Such as when Jamie visibly squirms when his family hugs him. But overall, Dodd generally shows promise in his leading role.
The film sometimes suffers from pacing issues, such as when director Aleksander Szeser takes far too much time setting up the family’s relationships with each other, as he often establishes dynamics directly through dialogue, as opposed to giving characters the opportunity to develop chemistry with one another. The film manages to build tension a third of the way through its 18-minute run by means of its climax — during the family’s annual trip to the race track, Jamie sneaks past his sister to jump in a car and take it for a spin around the track. However, it once again loses its footing as Szeser spends far too much time on characters blatantly stating how talented of a driver Jamie is.
“Inside I’m Racing,” is overall a heartwarming story with the positive message that with the love and support of his family, an autistic teen is capable of achieving his dreams. But subtly goes a long way, and that is not this film’s strong suit. “Inside I’m Racing” would have benefitted greatly from the classic writing technique of, “show, don’t tell.”
– by Brynne Ramella
