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.
10-year-old budding scientist T.S. Spivet secretly crosses the country, from his family's Montana ranch where he lives with his cowboy father and scientist mother, aboard a freight train to receive an award from the Smithsonian Institution in D.C..
The film failed to recover its costs, so is considered a box office bomb.
Plot
Budding cartographer, 10-year-old T.S. Spivet lives on a secluded, Montana ranch with his moody older sister, pretentious entomologist mother, and emotionally distant and quiet wannabe cowboy father. Lonely, often ignored and belittled by others – even his envious teacher – T.S. spends his days playing, inventing, and wandering the ranch with their dog, Tapioca. T.S.'s fraternal twin brother Layton was more a cowboy, like their father, rather than the scientifically inclined T.S.. A tragedy occurred one day when the twins were out playing in an old barn.The Smithsonian Institution in Washington contacts T.S. to announce that he has won the Baird Award for his perpetual motion machine. Museum director Ms. Jibsen assumes he is an adult. Initially reluctant, T.S. decides he must run away to receive the prize. Before leaving, he looks at Layton's old bedroom, a shrine of dusty toys and furniture that no one feels able to throw away. T.S. sneaks out early to begin his journey.
Initially, T.S. travels by train, hopping on a rail car, where he plays and imagines that Layton is still with him. After nearly being caught by a guard, he opts to sleep in an auction show camper. T.S. only leaves it at night in search of food, where he meets the hobo "Two Clouds". He tells him a story of a sparrow and a pine tree, suggesting that everybody reaches their right destination eventually. T.S. contemplates calling his family, but cannot bring himself to do it.
The next day, as T.S. is walking along the railroad tracks a policeman begins chasing and swearing at him, so he is forced to climb atop a canal gate. Realizing he may have gone too far, the policeman guides the boy to climb back to safety, but once T.S. is safe, he resumes chasing him.
T.S. eventually loses him, then hitchhikes with friendly trucker Rick, who enjoys meeting people and chronicling this in photography. T.S. realizes, after inquiring about a photo of him in military garb pointing a machine gun at an Arab's head, that he was a soldier post-9/11. Rick tries to downplay this with dark humour. Allowing T.S. to sleep on the truck, he notices that the boy is injured from nearly falling off the bridge earlier that day, so suggests he see a doctor.
After Rick leaves him in Washington, T.S. meets Ms. Jibsen at the Smithsonian. Skeptical the boy could possibly have invented the motion machine, T.S. proves her wrong by describing his scientific process. He fibs, saying he is an orphan, fearing that his parents will appear and be angry if they discover where he is.
Ms. Jibsen, basking in T.S.'s spotlight, insists on being his new guardian and accompanying him to the conference where the Baird Award is being awarded. She often speaks over him, like most adults tend to do, which annoys him. He sits at a table alone during the conference, but a crowd of admirers suddenly swarm him when they realise he is the boy behind the prizewinning invention.
T.S. gives a speech, revealing Layton had accidentally shot himself in the barn, bringing his audience to tears. He sobs that nobody ever talks about Layton, as if his brother never existed. Unbeknownst to him, his mother watches from a balcony, having driven to Washington to find him. When T.S. later appears on a sensationalist talk show, the host Roy introduces a surprise guest - T.S.'s mother. This angers Ms. Jibsen, as she realizes she cannot be in charge of T.S. anymore.
After a tense reunion, T.S. hugs his mother, but as they leave together, Roy and Ms. Jibsen chase after them. Ms. Jibsen, having gotten drunk, swears at T.S. and calls him a "mother lover" which causes Mrs. Spivet to slap her. T.S.'s father appears and punches out Roy for trying to stop his son from leaving. T.S. apologizes for hurting his father's feelings, who just smiles at him, giving him a piggyback ride, and letting him wear his favorite cowboy hat.
Back at home, T.S.'s mother gives birth to a new baby. So, T.S. invents an even better perpetual motion machine, which they use to rock his new infant sibling's cradle on the front porch.