The Giant

Rikard (Christian Eriksson) is hampered by an unusual deformity that drastically limits his ability to speak, making every day a battle to communicate with those around him. Luckily, his mother and best friend understand him perfectly - plus he is one of the key players on his boules team (a kind of working-class indoor lawn bowling), which provides him with purpose, a circle of friends, and an escape from the drab long-term care facility where he lives. Rikard is also buoyed by his imaginative inner life: a fantasy land where he is a giant bounding across a picturesque landscape derived from kitschy 18th-century pastoral paintings. (Toronto International Film Festival)