The Odd Life of Timothy Green

“He's a force of nature.”

Cindy (Jennifer Garner) and Jim Green (Joel Edgerton) cannot have a child, so they write their wishes for one on slips of paper and bury the box in the backyard. That night a boy named Timothy (CJ Adams) turns up in their kitchen, muddy and calm, with leaves growing from his legs. Peter Hedges follows the small town's reaction to him, and the film says plainly that a child is a gift you only get to hold for a while.