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The Healer

The Healer

Family · Drama · Comedy · 2017

The film follows a man with an unwanted gift for healing who meets a teenager with cancer who helps him to find himself.

Movie details

The Healer

“You will believe in miracles”

2017 Family · Drama · Comedy 1h 53m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

7.1 / 10

Community rating

The film follows a man with an unwanted gift for healing who meets a teenager with cancer who helps him to find himself.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over The Healer?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

Simon Birch

Simon Birch

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Simon Birch and Joe Wenteworth are boys who have a reputation for being oddballs. Joe never knew his father, and his mother, Rebecca, is keeping her lips sealed no matter how much he protests. Simon, meanwhile, is an 11-year-old dwarf whose outsize personality belies his small stature. Indeed, he often assails the local reverend with thorny theological questions and joins Joe on his quest to find his biological father.

Roll Bounce

Roll Bounce

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In the summer of 1978, a teenager and his group of friends face new challenges when their neighborhood roller-skating rink closes, forcing them to visit a different rink.

Chang Can Dunk

Chang Can Dunk

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Chang, a 16-year-old, Asian American, bets the high school basketball star that he can dunk by Homecoming. The bet leads 5' 8" Chang on a quest to learn to dunk—not only to impress his crush, Kristy, but to gain the respect of his high school peers too. But before he can rise up and truly throw one down, he'll have to reexamine everything he knows about himself, his friendships and his family.

The Shack

The Shack

Drama · 2017

A grieving man receives a mysterious, personal invitation to meet with God at a place called 'The Shack'.

Blue Miracle

Blue Miracle

Adventure · 2021

To save their cash-strapped orphanage, a guardian and his kids partner with a washed-up boat captain for a chance to win a lucrative fishing competition.

The Wolf and the Lion

The Wolf and the Lion

Family · 2021

After her grandfather's death, 20-year-old Alma decides to go back to her childhood home - a little island in the heart of the majestic Canadian forest. Whilst there, she rescues two helpless cubs: a wolf and a lion. They forge an inseparable bond, but their world soon collapses as the forest ranger discovers the animals and takes them away. The two cub brothers must now embark on a treacherous journey across Canada to be reunited with one another and Alma once more.

Benji

Benji

Drama · 2018

Two school kids strike up a friendship with an orphaned puppy named Benji. When danger befalls them and they end up kidnapped by robbers who are in over their heads, Benji and his scruffy sidekick come to the rescue.

I Believe

I Believe

Family · 2019

A 9 year old boy experiences God's power in a supernatural way.

The Magic of Belle Isle

The Magic of Belle Isle

Drama · 2012

In an effort to tap into his original talent, a wheelchair-bound author moves to a rural town, where he befriends a single mother and her three kids, who help reignite his passion for writing.

Kit Kittredge: An American Girl

Kit Kittredge: An American Girl

Family · 2008

The Great Depression hits home for nine year old Kit Kittredge when her dad loses his business and leaves to find work. Oscar nominee Abigail Breslin stars as Kit, leading a splendid cast in the first ever "American Girl" theatrical movie. In order to keep their home, Kit and her mother must take in boarders - paying house - guests who turn out to be full of fascinating stories. When mother's lockbox containing all their money is stolen, Kit's new hobo friend Will is the prime suspect. Kit refuses to believe that Will would steal, and her efforts to sniff out the real story get her and friends into big trouble. The police say the robbery was an inside job, committed by someone they know. So if it wasn't Will, then who did it.

Where it lives

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Paco Arango

Written by

Paco Arango

Oliver Jackson-Cohen

Oliver Jackson-Cohen

Alec Bailey

Camilla Luddington

Camilla Luddington

Cecilia

Kaitlyn Bernard

Kaitlyn Bernard

Abigail

Jonathan Pryce

Jonathan Pryce

Raymond Heacock

Jorge Garcia

Jorge Garcia

Father Malloy

Adrian G. Griffiths

Adrian G. Griffiths

Tom Ackhurst

Jeremy Akerman

Jeremy Akerman

Priest

Court is in session

Put The Healer on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Sentimental Softie

“Sincerity is not manipulation.”

The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.

The prosecution The Cool Ironist

“The strings are showing.”

Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.